the accusations against anton skiba have evolved since his detention. he was initially accused of promising cash rewards for the death of rebels on his facebook page. later, he was accused of having different identity cards with different last names on them. we have not gotten any update as to his whereabouts or his welfare. today, thursday, despite repeated requests about this young man, in the meantime a growing number of human rights and press freedom organizations have publicly demanded for skiba's release including the committee to protect journalists, reporters without borders, the osce and the united nations human rights commissioner. we have heard from skiba as of wednesday, he made a brief phone call to cnn in which he was able to say he was okay. he was being questioned at the headquarters of the separatist's security services and then the call was abruptly cut off. we do not know if that call was made under duress. his detention seems to highlight the real tension in this region as the conflict escalates in the weeks since the malaysian airli

what they made were allegations against anton skiba. they said he's a dangerous man, that's a quote. they said he's a terrorist. since then we've engaged with the leadership of the pro-russian militants here, they say he may be a ukrainian government agent. those are the allegations made against him. we only worked with him for a little over 24 hours, but he is well known to international journalists here as a freelancer who has been working with media here throughout this conflict. so there are a lot of international jourmists here who know him, trust him and are now very, very worried about his well-being. indeed so human rights groups, journalist protection groups even the u.s. state department has issued a statement asking for him to be released. >> we hope you're telling this story will move them to do the right thing. thank you, phil. joining me now retired air force general michael hayden. thank you very much, general, for being with us. the detained journalist that you just heard us reporting on, anton skiba who has been detaine

he had a photo of the journalist we're talking about anton skiba. within moments, they had moved in on him, taken him into custody and taken him away. that was two days ago. we haven't seen him since. >> what did they accuse anton skiba of doing? >> well, during that detention process, if you like, we tried to talk to the men and engage them. and they made a number of accusations against them him. they told us he was allegedly dangerous. they used the word terrorist. they told really quite an extraordinary story saying he had been making postings on social networking sites offering rewards, financial rewards for the deaths for killing pro-russian separatists. these are the allegations that have been made against him. as you mentioned, we only worked with him for 24 hours but he has worked with another a number of other media outlets here in donetsk covering the civil conflict here. there are a lot of journalists here very much worried about his safety and his well-being and indeed, human rights groups, journalist protection groups, even the u.s. sta

anton skiba was abducted tuesday evening outside a hotel in donetsk. he had just returned from a day of work at the crash site. senior international correspondent ivan watson is live from donetsk. what do we know about this? how did it happen, ivan? >> reporter: well, part of a bigger trend. detention of journalists are happening at zdizzying speed here, and anton skiba is one of those examples. our team returned tuesday evening, and there was a group of arm eed separatists led by a leader of the self-declared donetsk people's republic waiting just outside the door of our hotel here. they took anton skiba who had been working as a translator for us for all of one day, called him a terrorist, and took him away in a car. and we haven't heard from him certainly throughout the day today. separatist officials have not given us any updates about him whatsoever. the committee to protect journalists, reporters without borders, the united nations have all come out publicly calling for this young man, young man to be released, anderson. >> for our viewers who do

anton skiba was seized tuesday night by armed men. cnn is making a public plea to the people holding anton to release him immediately. our ivan watson is joining us now live from donetsk in eastern ukraine. ivan, tell our viewers exactly what we know what happened? >> reporter: well, imagine the scene, wolf, when my colleague and phil black and his crew were coming back from the disaster site of malaysian air flight 17. they pull up right outside this hotel where there was a group of gunmen waiting led by a senior official from the donetsk people's republic. and they proceeded to identify this young ukrainian journalist, anton skiba, who had been working for us for all of one day as a translator and guide. they identified him and then promptly detained him, walking him away to a waiting car. we have not seen him since. he's been accused both of being a terrorist and a ukrainian agent by the pro-russian separatists here. we haven't gotten any additional comment despite many requests for information from the officials here. a number of d

this is anton skiba. he was taken by armed men outside of a hotel in donestk.we are publicly askings those rebels, release him now, please. our senior international correspondent ivan watson is live in donestk to tell us more about his abduction. good morning. >> good morning, carol. that's right cnn was not reporting on anton skiba's detention because we were working behind the scenes with separatist officials trying to secure the young man's release. he had worked for cnn all of one day as we describe it in the industry here as a fixer, a kind of translator and guide to this region. what happened

freelance journalist anton skiba has been released. he was working for cnn when he was detained by armed men on tuesday. an official with the self-declared donetsk people's republic had accused him of terrorism. >>> hillary clinton says the u.s. must extend sanctions against russia and stand up to vladimir putin. >> there are a lot of people who feel that president obama is not being tough enough on vladimir putin, on russia. do you think he's handling the ukrainian crisis appropriately? >> well, fareed, i think he is facing some of the same challenges that american presidents face when dealing with threats within europe. the united states, obviously, has a great interest in helping to maintain peace and security in europe, and we have a formal alliance, nato, to do so. but much of what we can do and what the president is calling for requires the full participation of our european friends and allies, and i would make three quick points. first, i think if there were any doubt, it should be gone by now that vladimir putin certainly indir

>> we're talking about a local journalist here in donetsk called anton skiba.e was working with us out an the crash site two days ago. when we returned to this location and we were unloading our vehicle, we were met by a very heavily armed very serious pro-russian militants. they were looking us up and down very closely. a man had a photo of anton skiba and within moments they had detained him and were leading him away. as we tried to engage them to stop them to find out what was happening, this man told us, and he's a representative of the local if pro-russian militant leadership here, he said skiba is dangerous. he accused him of being a terrorist. he had only worked with us for 24 hours but he is known to a lot of other international journalist here. he worked with them as a translator, guide and so forth. there were a lot of international journalists worried about him because we haven't seen him for two days. he's been in custody that long. indeed, other international agencies, journalist protection groups, even the u.s. state department have all issued sta

armed men from the self-declared donetsking sized anton skiba outside a hotel in the rebel controlledone necessadone. t. >>> remains of flight 17 could be done by saturday could be transferred then. they will hold a procession from iendz hovan to a nearby facility for identification. here's a look at the solemn journey so far. >> our community is really in shock. ♪ >> everybody has a person who is directly involved with one of the victims. ♪ >> everybody has a sad feeling. this is not necessary. and also we are -- i feel a little bit of anger as well because an accident can happen when afterwards we should treat people with respect. >> this is very respectful to the people that we lost, and it's unbelievable. it's unbelievable. >> i can imagine that the people are angry, but when they stay in a situation of love, i think that the violence of death makes -- destroys everything, but the violence of love give the chance to survive. >>> they are pleading for help to combat the root causes of the u.s. immigration crisis. the leaders met with lawmakers on capitol hill thursday. they urged t

cnn has been working behind the scenes of trying to obtain the release of ukrainian journalist anton skibad outside a hotel in donetsk on tuesday. he was working as a freelancer for us. the state department is calling skiba's detention a kidnapping, and human rights groups are demanding his release. ivan watson joins me now with the latest. ivan, a freelance journalist. take me exactly through what happened, how he was abducted. i understand there were men waiting for him at the hotel? >> that's right. our tv crew with my colleague phil black was coming back from the malaysian air flight disaster zone on tuesday evening. they pulled up just outside this hotel. and there were a group of gunmen in green camouflage with the vice premier of the donetsk people's republic who were standing, basically waiting for them with a folder documents. they got anton's id, and then they promptly detained him, marched him into a car and drove him away. they told us that he was a very dangerous person, that he was a ukrainian agent, and we've been trying to secure his release ever since. >> now, an official