Andriy Parubiy, 54, former speaker of the Ukrainian Parliament and now a member of parliament, was killed in Lviv in a shootout in the Frankivskyi district: he was reportedly shot five times and died instantly. “Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko and Prosecutor General Ruslav Kravchenko have just informed me of the first known circumstances of the terrible murder in Lviv. Andrii Parubii is dead. All necessary forces and resources are being deployed to investigate and search for the killer,” declared President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Authorities, Kyiv Independent reports, received an emergency call around noon after the shooting in the Frankivskyi neighborhood, south of Lviv, police said. Citing sources, Suspilne reported that the attacker, dressed as a Glovo courier and riding an electric bicycle , approached Parubii, opened fire, and fled, leaving seven shell casings on the sidewalk. The General Prosecutor's Office reports that Operation Siren is underway to find the suspect, and a murder investigation has been launched.
Parubiy, 54, born on January 31, 1971 in Chervonohrad, in the Lviv region, began his political career in the Lviv Regional Council, became a member of parliament in 2007, was elected deputy speaker of the Verkhovna Rada, the Ukrainian parliament, in December 2014, and became its speaker on April 14, 2016. The Kyiv Independent reports that he participated in the Orange Revolution of 2004 and was among the leaders of the Maidan Square uprisings from late 2013. The Ukrainian newspaper Unian adds that in December 2014 he had already been the victim of an assassination attempt, when an unknown person threw a grenade near the Kiev hotel where he was meeting with colleagues.
After the ousting of pro-Russian President Viktor Yanukovych, Parubiy was appointed Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council, a post he held between February and August 2014. He then served as First Deputy Speaker of Parliament from 2014 to 2016 and Speaker of Parliament from 2016 to 2019. Since 2019, Parubiy has been a member of former President Petro Poroshenko's European Solidarity party. Poroshenko commented:"The enemy will never be able to kill the ideals for which Parubiy lived and fought." "What can be said for sure is that these monsters are afraid, and that is why they kill true patriots and strong people," Poroshenko wrote on social media. “This crime is not just a shot fired at a person. It is a blow to the army. It is a blow to the language. It is a blow to faith. It is a blow to the heart of Ukraine,” he added.
Parubiy, the Russian agency Ria Novosti reports citing police lists, “has been on the wanted list of the Russian Interior Ministry for years”, more precisely since November 2023. The Russian Investigative Committee charged Parubiy in absentia for alleged atrocities committed in Donbass in 2014 and which caused the death and injury of 1,200 people.
