How the Lutsk bus hostage crisis ended without casualties
A retrospective on the hours-long standoff in Volyn Oblast, resolved through negotiation and the gunman's surrender.
How did a bus hijacking in western Ukraine end with every hostage unharmed? On 21 July 2020, a gunman carrying explosives took 16 people hostage aboard a public bus in Lutsk, as reported at the time.
Background to the event describes the incident as taking place in Lutsk, in Volyn Oblast. The attacker, identified as Maksym Kryvosh, seized a BAZ A079 bus and barricaded himself inside with passengers at Teatralna Square. The background account gives the number of passengers as 13, while reports from the day said 16 people were held.
Police said they had identified the man, who had expressed frustration with the Ukrainian system on social media. After hours of negotiations, he surrendered to police and all the hostages were freed unharmed. The background account says the crisis ended with the release of the hostages and his arrest.
Shortly before the surrender, President Volodymyr Zelensky met one of the gunman's demands. He posted a video on Facebook saying that everyone should watch the 2005 film Earthlings.
