The investigation into the assassination of Ukrainian language professor and former lawmaker Iryna Farion is considering all possible theories, "including the one that leads to Russia," President Volodymyr Zelensky said on July 20.
Farion died in a hospital in Lviv on the evening of July 19, hours after being shot by an unidentified attacker. She was 60 years old.
"All the necessary forces of the National Police of Ukraine and the Security Service of Ukraine have been deployed to search for the criminal," Zelensky said.
Surveillance cameras are being examined, witness interviews are ongoing, and investigators are working across several districts of Lviv, Zelensky added.
Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said that some of the security cameras near the scene of the crime were turned off due to scheduled power outages, complicating the police investigation.
"We are appealing to everyone who can provide the investigation with additional information," Klymenko said.
According to Klymenko, the main theories are that Farion was murdered due to her public and political activity or due to personal hatred. Investigators are also looking into the possibility that the assassination was a contract killing.
Farion was known for her controversial statements on the use of the Russian language in Ukraine. She joined the ultranationalist party Svoboda in 2005 and served as a member of the parliament between 2012 and 2014.
Farion had been reinstated as a professor at the Ukrainian language department at Lviv Polytechnic University in June 2023, after being fired for sparking outrage due to her public omments on the Ukrainian language. In November 2023, she said that she couldn't call Ukrainian soldiers Ukrainians if they spoke Russian.
The scandal around Farion's statements escalated after she allegedly received a message of support from Maksym Hlebov, a pro-Ukrainian student living in occupied Crimea.
She published the email, including his full name and contact information, on her social media, after which received harsh criticism for putting the boy in danger. Hlebov was interrogated by the Russian occupation authorities in Crimea and forced to apologize on camera.
Ukraine's Security Service (SBU) said in November 2023 that Farion was under criminal investigation both for her statements about Russian-speaking soldiers and for publicizing the message from Hlebov.
Kate Tsurkan
(Updated: )
