Article contentAll 13 people taken hostage on a bus in western Ukraine were freed unharmed on Tuesday after President Volodymyr Zelenskiy spoke by phone with the hostage-taker and agreed to a key demand — that the president endorse a 2005 animal rights documentary narrated by Joaquin Phoenix. Police arrested the suspect, whom the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) identified as 44-year-old Maksym Kryvosh, who had seized the bus in the city of Lutsk, saying he was armed with guns and explosives. In a move to secure the hostages‘ release, President Zelenskiy said he spoke to Kryvosh for seven to 10 minutes and agreed to one of his sticking points, which was that the president promote the Phoenix-involved film, called Earthlings. Phoenix, whose image was used to promote the documentary, has been a long-time animal rights activist. The film can be watched without it,” Interior Minister Avakov said.

Source: National Post July 22, 2020 14:03 UTC