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Joaquin Phoenix documentary helps end Ukraine hostage standoff
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US actor Joaquin Phoenix poses in the press room after winning the award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Drama during the 77th annual Golden Globe Awards at The Beverly Hilton hotel in Beverly Hills, California, on Jan. 5. (AFP/Frederic J. Brown)
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hirteen hostages held by a gunman were released from a bus in Lutsk, Ukraine, after President Volodymyr Zelensky agreed to post a Facebook video saying everyone should watch Earthlings, a 2005 documentary on animal rights narrated by Joaquin Phoenix.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, the stand-off lasted for nine hours with gunman Maksym Kryvosh (“Maxim the Bad” on social media) speaking to psychologists and negotiators for about 10-15 seconds before hanging up and finally speaking to Zelensky for seven-10 minutes and negotiating on the video, according to Zelensky in a press video released late Tuesday.
The video of Zelensky endorsing Earthlings was deleted after Kryvosh turned himself in and replaced with a thank you note to the police and others who helped with the incident.
“Human life is the most important value,” wrote Zelensky in the note. “We have not lost anyone.”
Earthlings critiqued the use of animals as pets and for food clothing, entertainment and science.
Kryosh reportedly called the police himself after commandeering the bus. Before the surrender, he claimed that he had placed explosives on the bus and at another location, which could be detonated remotely, and allegedly opened fire and threw a grenade at the police which was defused, according to the Ukraine Interior Ministry.
President Zelensky was in a meeting with his Swiss counterpart but had to keep pausing to be updated on what was happening in Lutsk. A special assault operation was considered but ruled out due to potential harm to the hostages, according to Zelensky.
After agreeing to speak with Kryvosh, an agreement involving the release of three people – an injured person, a pregnant woman and a child – the president posted the video. The rest of the hostages were released 30 minutes after the video was posted.
“Everything happened almost like that,” said Zelensky.
Kryvosh is an animal rights activist who protected stray dogs, according to Ukrainian media. He also demanded that dozens of politicians admit to being “terrorists.”
Ukraine’s Interior Minister Arsen Avakov said Kryvosh was “an unstable man who painted his vision of the world and invented a revenge for it.”
“The film [Earthlings] is a good one. But you don’t have to be so screwed up and cause such a terror for the entire country, you can just watch it without all that,” said Avakov.
Avakov also said Kryvosh had “his own vision of justice and the value of human life.” (car/kes)
