‘A 2005 film, Earthlings, everybody should watch it,’ President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in the six-second selfie
Ukraine’s president won freedom for 13 hijacked bus hostages last night by posting a video on Facebook urging people to watch a vegan documentary after a ten minute chat with the maniac holding them.
‘A 2005 film, Earthlings, everybody should watch it,’ President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in the six-second clip which was later deleted.
Maxim Krovishey, 44, lobbed a grenade out of the vehicle and fired twice at officers during a terrifying 12-hour standoff with police after he stormed the bus at around 9.25am in Lutsk, a city in the northwest of the country.
The Russian-born convict made calls to relatives of those he had taken hostage during the siege, demanding that senior politicians must admit to being ‘terrorists’ or he would blow up the bus.
Krovishey also claimed he had explosives planted in another crowded area of the city which he could detonate remotely and a wide police cordon was established.
In a move to secure the hostages’ release, President Zelenskiy said he spoke to Krovishey for around ten minutes and agreed to one of his demands, to promote the animal rights documentary ‘Earthlings,’ narrated by Hollywood actor Joaquin Phoenix.
The president said he had persuaded Krovishey to first release three of the hostages, including a pregnant woman.
An assailant, who seized a long-distance bus with 13 hostages, after police officers captured him in the city centre of Lutsk, 250 miles west of Kiev, Ukraine late last night
Weapons, including an assault rifle, a revolver, a flick knife and extra magazines, that belonged to an assailant who seized a long-distance bus with 13 hostages yesterday, are pictured on the ground after police officers captured the assailant in the city centre of Lutsk, 250 miles west of Kiev, Ukraine late last night. Ukrainian police say the armed man who seized hostages aboard a long-distance bus in the western city of Lutsk has been detained and all the people he held have been freed unharmed after a standoff that lasted more than 12 hours
Pictured: A grenade held by the attacker, who launched one of them from the bus at one point in the attack yesterday, which fortunately did not detonate
Pictured: The attacker looks back at Ukrainian soldiers after being captured in Kiev, Ukraine late last night
Maxim Krovishey, 44, is detained after a 12 hour stand-off with police and special forces in the city of Lutsk after he took around 10 people hostage on a bus
In the last few hours Krovishey had released an elderly woman, a teenager and a young pregnant woman
Police sealed off the centre of Lutsk, a city 250 miles west of Kiev, earlier today. Pictured, Ukranian law enforcement officers lie on the ground behind a car near the bus
Members of a Ukrainian special forces unit drive an armoured personnel carrier near a seized passenger bus during a hostage rescue operation in the city of Lutsk
Maxim Krovishey, 44, was caught on camera as he boarded the bus in the centre of Lutsk, Ukraine, at 9.25am local time (7.25am GMT)
‘We agreed that he would release three people and after that I will record a video,’ Zelenskiy said.
Krovishey (pictured) is armed and carrying explosives, officers said in a Facebook statement. Pictured, the assailant released a message ahead of the attack
Zelenskiy had been given the option of launching an assault on the bus, but did not want to risk hostages dying during the attack.
‘We have the result – everyone is alive,’ he said.
At around 9.45pm local time, police announced that the assailant had been detained and that all remaining hostages had been freed without injury.
The state security service (SBU) published a picture of Krovishey sprawled on the ground with security personnel standing over him after his arrest.
Interior Minister Arsen Avakov said an accomplice of Krovishey was detained in the eastern city of Kharkiv.
Police had blocked off the city centre with armed officers, cars and an armoured personnel carrier while they tried to persuade Krovishey to free the hostages in a day-long standoff.
Photos and footage showed a small bus parked in the middle of an empty street, with at least two windows smashed and others covered with curtains.
Police said Krovishey threw a grenade out of the bus. Avakov said Krovishey had fired shots out of the bus at police.
‘The attacker threw a grenade from the bus, which, fortunately, did not detonate,’ a statement said.
In posts on social media, Krovishey had also demanded that senior Ukrainian officials publish statements saying that they were terrorists.
Hostages are seen through a windscreen damaged by gunshots, after the passenger bus was seized
Ukrainian law enforcement officers take cover near a seized passenger bus during a hostage rescue operation in the city of Lutsk, Ukraine July 21
A policeman brings water for hostages contained in a bus after an armed man seized the long-distance bus and took some 10 people hostage in the city centre of Lutsk
policeman, who has brought water for hostages trapped on a bus, walks away from the vehicle in downtown Lutsk today
Police officers take up positions during an operation to rescue passengers of an intercity bus who have been taken hostage by an armed man in the city of Lutsk
The bus with hostages on a road in the downtown of the Western Ukrainian city of Lutsk
Police officers take up positions during an operation to rescue passengers of an intercity bus who have been taken hostage by an armed man in the city of Lutsk
A trio were freed from the bus earlier this evening before police were able to detain the assailant
A police officer escorts three hostages released from a hijacked bus in the downtown area of the city of Lutsk,
The bus remains parked up and hostages can be seen inside after Maxim Krovisheyn, thought to have posted anti-establishment messages online, took it over on Tuesday morning. Shots were fired through the front windscreen
Nicknamed Maxim Bad, the assailant has posted online: ‘What is freedom? Heaven. How to get there? Be a criminal.’ Pictured, the bus, left, and officers crawling behind a car, right
Policemen look on the bus with hostages in the downtown of the Western Ukrainian city of Lutsk
Krovishey, a former prisoner who has complained about ‘Ukraine’s system’ in a series of posts online and previously published a book titled Philosophy Of A Criminal, was previously thought to have had 20 hostages.
In a Telegram account reportedly belonging to him, Plokhoy apparently admitted taking people on the bus hostage, said ‘the state has always been and always is the first terrorist’.
In his book the hostage-taker wrote: ‘You can kill me, but it will not correct me. I am not afraid. The face of God is in the mirror.’
In a video message released ahead of the hostage-situation Krovishey recorded himself holding a gun.
He said: ‘Happy anti-system day. Don’t fool yourself. Celebrate the truth.’
A statement from the attacker claimed: ‘There are a lot of people with me – machine guns, grenades, two bombs.’ He said he had an accomplice ‘in a crowded area of the city’.
‘The man put forward his demands to law enforcers,’ said police. ‘Negotiations with him are underway. He is being talked to over the phone.’
Ukrainian servicemen are seen at the scene where a man has taken around 10 passengers hostage on a bus in western Ukrainian city of Lutsk
Ukrainian servicemen are seen at the scene where a man has taken around 10 passengers hostage
Armed officers stand outside a police van. The bus where the hostages are being held can be seen behind
Police tape surrounds the scene as people gather to watch the intense operation unfold
Authorities have identified the man and said that he expressed frustration with ‘Ukraine’s system’ on his social media pages. Pictured, the police cordon
Bystanders have started to gather as police officers blocked off the road leading to the bus
A tank parked up at the scene to block the road following the seizure of the passenger bus
Police officers gather supplies as they head towards the bus where people have been taken hostage by an armed man
His demands appeared absurd, calling on senior Ukrainian officials to post videos saying they are ‘terrorist in laws’.
He also asked Ukrainian president Zelensky to urge people to watch the 2005 movie Earthlings.
Krovishey was born in Russia – then part of the USSR – in 1975. He was convicted of group robbery in 2013 and is believed to have served three jail sentences, the longest for eight years.
Nicknamed Maxim Bad, the assailant has posted online: ‘What is freedom? Heaven. How to get there? Be a criminal.’
He previously wrote a book entitled ‘Philosophy of a criminal’.
‘My death is not an obstacle for the explosions,’ he said. ‘The state has always been and is the first terrorist.’