Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced Sunday that a suspect was arrested in connection with the murder of Andriy Parubiy, a Ukrainian MP, former speaker of parliament and key figure in the Maidan revolution, which occurred over the weekend in Lviv.
“The necessary investigative actions are underway. I thank our law enforcement for their swift and coordinated work,” the president wrote in a message posted on social media. The announcement came just 24 hours after the attack.
Parubiy, 54, was shot dead Saturday by a gunman who police said disguised himself as a food delivery man and fired several shots before fleeing on an electric bike. The former lawmaker died instantly on a central street in Lviv, a city that had previously been considered one of the safest places in the country during the Russian invasion.
Authorities dubbed the operation"Siren" and deployed officers from the national police, the security agency (SBU), and the prosecutor general's office. Police sources cited by Reuters said it was a"carefully planned" attack and that the suspect was tracked through security cameras and witnesses.
Parubiy was a household name in Ukrainian politics. He served as speaker of the Verkhovna Rada, the unicameral parliament, from 2016 to 2019, and as secretary of the National Security Council in 2014, when the war with Russia erupted following its annexation of Crimea. During the Euromaidan protests, he led the self-defense forces that confronted then-President Viktor Yanukovych's riot police.
His death sparked a wave of reactions among Ukrainian and European leaders. Former Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko described it as “a shot to the heart of Ukraine.” Andrii Sybiha, the current foreign minister, remembered him as “a patriot and statesman who made an enormous contribution to defending the country's freedom, independence, and sovereignty.”
European Parliament President Roberta Metsola said she was "deeply shocked by this terrible murder," while leaders from Estonia and Poland sent messages of solidarity. In Kyiv, the incident was read as a sign that"there are no completely safe cities in a country at war," according to the mayor of Lviv.
This crime is not an isolated incident. In recent months, other leaders linked to the 2014 revolution have been assassinated in similar circumstances, raising concerns about a possible campaign of political violence. In March and July, Demyan Hanul and Ivan Voronych, also nationalist and civil resistance figures, were executed.
While there is no conclusive evidence linking the murder to Moscow, analysts warn that Parubiy—a vocal Kremlin critic and proponent of Euro-Atlantic integration—was a symbolic target. “This is a direct attack on the memory of Euromaidan and the narrative of democratic resistance,” a Lviv University academic who asked not to be identified told the Financial Times.
The murder has also sparked a debate about the safety of political leaders in areas far from the front lines. Lviv, in the west of the country, had been a center for displaced persons and a diplomatic hub, but Saturday's violence reinforces the idea that the hybrid war is also being waged in cities farther from the fighting.
Parubiy's legacy is complex. He began as a nationalist activist in the 1990s, moved through radical right-wing movements, and then established himself as a national-democratic politician, a promoter of European integration. His detractors accused him of intolerance, but his allies saw him as a disciplined and strategic man, capable of transforming activism into institutional action.
With the arrest of the suspect, attention is focused on two key questions: what was the motive for the attack? And are there links to external actors in the midst of the war against Russia? For now, the authorities' response is cautious. In his message, Zelensky emphasized:"The investigation is ongoing. Ukraine will not be intimidated."
