Originally posted by the Voice of America.
Voice of America content is produced by the Voice of America,
a United States federal government-sponsored entity, and is in
the public domain.


Ukraine's Leader Reveals Details of Talks With Hostage-taker

Associated Press

   An armed man who took more than a dozen hostages on a long-distance bus
   in Ukraine's western city of Lutsk on Tuesday fulfilled the agreement
   he had reached with President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and released them
   shortly after Zelenskiy urged Ukrainians to watch an animal rights
   documentary, the president said Wednesday.

   Zelenskiy spoke to the hostage-taker for several minutes on Tuesday
   evening, the president's office said.

   "We had information about an injured (hostage), and I asked him to
   release the injured (hostage), a pregnant woman and a child. He said
   the injured hostage doesn't exist, it was a bluff. So we agreed that he
   will let three people go and after that I will record a video
   (message)," Zelenskiy said in a statement on the 12-hour-long hostage
   drama.

   The assailant, identified by police as Maksim Krivosh, a 44-year-old
   Ukrainian born in Russia, seized the bus with 13 people on Tuesday
   morning, prompting a standoff with police in Lutsk, 400 kilometers (250
   miles) west of the capital Kyiv.

   At one point, the assailant threw explosives out of a window but no one
   was hurt. He also fired several shots at a police drone.

   One of his demands was that Zelenskiy post a video message on the
   president's Facebook page urging Ukrainians to watch "Earthlings," a
   2005 American documentary exposing humanity's cruel exploitation of
   animals.

   A video of Zelenskiy saying: "Movie 'Earthlings', 2005. Everybody
   should watch" appeared on his Facebook page shortly after the first
   three hostages were reported to be released.

   Zelenskiy said Krivosh promised to release the others half an hour
   after the video was posted. "So it happened: In 30-40 minutes he
   released the hostages," the president said.

   The video was later deleted from his Facebook account.

   According to authorities, Krivosh reportedly had been convicted twice
   on a range of charges -- robbery, fraud, illegal arms handling -- and
   spent a total of 10 years behind bars.

   Ukrainian media said he was an animal rights activists who helped
   protect stray dogs.

   Some of the released hostages told reporters that he treated them well
   and only asked them to remain calm.

   The man is in custody and is reportedly cooperating with law
   enforcement. Interior Minister Arsen Avakov said police detained
   several of his accomplices on Tuesday night.

   Avakov didn't give details on what prompted the incident, saying only
   that the assailant was "an unstable man who painted his vision of the
   world and invented a revenge for it."