Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Wednesday defended his decision to agree to a hostage-taker’s bizarre demand that he post a movie recommendation to end a 12-hour stand-off. Zelensky described how he negotiated personally on Tuesday evening with a gunman who was holding 13 hostages on a bus in the western city of Lutsk. The tense hostage situation ended after the president agreed to post a recommendation of a 2005 United States documentary narrated by actor Joaquin Phoenix called “Earthlings”, which condemns humans’ mistreatment of animals. In response, the president posted a video message on Facebook and Kryvosh agreed to release all his captives half an hour later, Zelensky said. The president later deleted the short video from his account.

Source: Philippine Daily Inquirer July 23, 2020 09:22 UTC