Former Ukrainian Parliament Speaker Andriy Parubiy, a leading figure of the pro-European Maidan revolution in 2014, was shot dead Saturday in the country’s west, authorities announced, adding that the gunman remains at large.
The circumstances of his killing and the motive behind the attack are still unknown.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that the shooting death of former speaker of parliament Andriy Parubiy was a deliberate plot.
"Unfortunately, the crime was carefully planned. But everything is being done to solve this crime," Zelensky said in a social media post.
“An unidentified man fired several shots at the politician, killing Andriy Parubiy instantly” in Lviv, a major city in western Ukraine, the Prosecutor General’s Office said.
The suspect fled the scene, prompting a “special operation” to track him down, the office added.
A murder investigation has been opened, with prosecutors pledging to identify the shooter and establish the circumstances of the crime.
Parubiy, 54, was a key figure in the Maidan revolution and served as Speaker of Parliament from 2016 to 2019.
In 2014, he survived an assassination attempt involving a combat grenade, according to Ukrainian media.
President Volodymyr Zelensky condemned the killing as a “horrible murder” and vowed that “all necessary forces and resources” would be mobilized for the investigation.
“Patriot”
Photos published by Ukrainian media, though not independently verified, purportedly show the crime scene, with a man’s bloodied face lying on the street.
The suspect reportedly wore a delivery uniform and was riding an electric bicycle, state broadcaster Suspilne said, citing anonymous sources.
Parubiy had long been active in Ukraine’s pro-European movements, first in the 2004 “Orange Revolution” and later in the 2014 Maidan uprising.
He served as “commander” of self-defense groups during the Maidan protests, which were violently suppressed, ultimately forcing pro-Russian President Viktor Yanukovych to flee to Russia in 2014.
That same year, following Yanukovych’s ouster, Parubiy briefly served as Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council.
During the Soviet era, he campaigned for Ukrainian independence.
Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko on Saturday hailed him as “a patriot” who made “a great contribution to building our state.”
Parubiy “dedicated his life to the struggle for Ukraine’s independence from a very young age,” current parliament speaker Ruslan Stefanchuk said.
He was “one of the founders of modern Ukraine,” lawmaker Iryna Herashchenko added. “We demand that the killer be found.”
AFP
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