Ukraine's ex-parliament speaker shot dead in Lviv
Editor's note: This is a developing story and is being updated. The article contains graphic footage.
Andrii Parubii, a Ukrainian politician who previously served as the parliament speaker and played a prominent role in the EuroMaidan Revolution, was shot dead in Lviv on Aug. 30.
Earlier in the day, the National Police said that a political figure was murdered after a shooting in the western Ukrainian city. Iryna Herashchenko, a lawmaker from the European Solidarity party, subsequently confirmed for the Kyiv Independent that Parubii was the victim.
Authorities received an emergency call at around noon after the shooting in Lviv's southern Frankivskyi city district, the police said. The victim died on the spot.
Citing sources, Suspilne broadcaster reported that the suspected assailant was dressed as a delivery courier and rode an electric bicycle.
During a press briefing in Lviv, police officials said that Parubii was shot at eight times with a short-barreled firearm. Seven shell casings were found at the crime scene, law enforcement sources told Suspilne.
The search for the shooter is underway in Lviv Oblast, Governor Maksym Kozytskyi said, while the Prosecutor General's Office has launched a murder investigation. Officials did not provide information about the suspect's identity or motive.
Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko, Prosecutor General Ruslan Kravchenko, and law enforcement agencies are investigating the circumstances of Parubii's murder, President Volodymyr Zelensky said.
"The crime was, unfortunately, carefully prepared. But everything is being done to solve it," Zelensky said on his Telegram channel.
Law enforcement authorities said they are investigating whether Parubii received threats before his death. A probe was also launched into the unauthorized release of a street camera recording showing moments before and after the shooting.
The video shared online appears to show the shooter waiting for the victim near a car before approaching him from behind. The crime itself is not visible.
Parubii, born in 1971 in a town near Lviv, was a long-time activist, lawmaker, and government official. During Soviet times, he organized anti-government demonstrations and was twice arrested.
After Ukraine gained its independence, Parubii entered politics, being elected into the parliament for the first time in 2007. He participated in the Orange Revolution in 2004 and led self-defense volunteer groups during the EuroMaidan Revolution in 2013-2014.
After the ousting of pro-Russian President Viktor Yanukovych during EuroMaidan, Parubii was appointed secretary of the National Security and Defense Council. He held the position between February and August 2014, when Russia occupied Crimea and initiated the war in Donbas.
His role as the National Security and Defense Council secretary at the onset of Moscow's aggression made him a common target of Russian propaganda and disinformation.
The politician then served as the first deputy parliament speaker between 2014 and 2016 and as the parliament speaker from 2016 until 2019. Since 2019, Parubii has served as a lawmaker for ex-President Petro Poroshenko's European Solidarity party.
Ruslan Stefanchuk, the current parliament speaker, called Parubii a "consistent defender of Ukrainian statehood."
"On behalf of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, I express my condolences to Andrii's family and friends," Stefanchuk said in a public statement. Parubii is survived by his wife and daughter.
"Our team is shocked. This is terror," Heraschenko said in a statement published on European Solidarity's Facebook page.
"Andrii was one of the founders of the modern Ukraine... principled and decent, patriotic, intelligent."
The news of Parubii's death also garnered reactions from abroad.
"The news of his murder in Lviv is shocking. My sincere condolences to his loved ones and to the entire Ukrainian people, who today lost one of their best sons," Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski wrote on social media.
Lithuanian Foreign Minister Kestutis Budrys described Parubii as a "fighter for Ukraine's European future," and expressed his "sincere condolences to his family and loved ones."
Separately, the statement shared by the European Solidarity party suggested that Russia or its "fifth column" may have been responsible for Parubii's death, pointing to the ex-speaker's firmly pro-Ukrainian stances.
According to the police, a Russian involvement is one of the possible versions under investigation. At the same time, the law enforcement agency said there is no evidence linking the killing to the murder of Iryna Farion, an ex-lawmaker and professor murdered in Lviv in July 2024.
Volodymyr Ariev, a European Solidarity lawmaker, took a more cautious view than some of his party colleagues.
"It is not yet known who did this. I do not rule anything out and do not want to speculate until we have information about the person who ordered it," Ariev told the Kyiv Independent.
Zelensky said he had instructed Vasyl Maliuk, the chief of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), to join the investigation and present verified information to the public as soon as possible.
Kateryna Denisova contributed reporting.
