Ukrainian lawmaker Andriy Parubiy was fatally shot in what authorities described as a “carefully planned” attack in the western city of Lviv on Saturday, with the gunman still at large.
Police said Parubiy was struck multiple times with a short-barrelled firearm. The assailant fled the scene and remains unidentified but is believed to have been “thoroughly prepared” for the targeted killing.
Parubiy, a sitting member of Ukraine’s parliament and former speaker of the Verkhovna Rada, died before emergency services could reach him, according to Maksym Kozitskiy, head of the Lviv region military administration.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky condemned the killing as a “horrendous murder,” stressing that law enforcement considered it a deliberate and premeditated act.
“Ukraine’s Minister of Internal Affairs Ihor Klymenko and Prosecutor General Ruslan Kravchenko have just reported the first known circumstances of the horrendous murder in Lviv. Andriy Parubiy was killed. My condolences to his family and loved ones. All necessary forces and means are engaged in the investigation and search for the killer,” Zelenskyy said in a post on X.
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European Parliament President Roberta Metsola expressed deep shock at the murder and offered her condolences to Parubiy’s family and the Ukrainian people. “Deeply shocked by the terrible murder of the former Chairman of the @verkhovna_rada, Andrii Parubii, in Lviv. My heartfelt condolences to his family and friends,” she wrote on X.
Parubiy, 54, had been active in Ukrainian politics since the early 1990s, co-founding the Social-National Party of Ukraine in 1991 before later distancing himself from the group. He served in the Ukrainian parliament from 2007 until his death.
He played a pivotal role in Ukraine’s political uprisings, including the 2004 Orange Revolution and the 2013–14 Maidan protests. During the latter, he led operations in Kyiv’s Independence Square, becoming a key figure in the movement that ultimately forced then-President Viktor Yanukovych from power.
Parubiy later served as Secretary of the National Security and Defence Council in 2014 and was known for championing national identity policies, including the 2019 language law mandating Ukrainian as the official language in many public domains.
Former Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko also condemned the killing, calling the perpetrators “monsters” who target Ukraine’s patriots.
“This crime – it’s not just shots at a person. It’s shots at the Army. It’s a shot at the Language. It’s a shot at the Faith. It’s a shot in the heart of Ukraine,” Poroshenko said in a post on X.
“I express my deepest condolences to the family and loved ones. Ukraine has lost a great son, but his cause will live on as long as our state lives. This is an act of terror, and it is the honour of the special services and law enforcement to find and punish the guilty and those involved. Eternal memory and eternal glory to Andriy Parubiy. Heroes do not die… Glory to Ukraine!” he added.
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