Reports indicate that Andriy Parubiy, the former speaker of the Ukrainian parliament, has been fatally shot in Lviv, a city in western Ukraine, according to official sources.
Unverified visual evidence circulating online purportedly depicts the incident, showing an armed individual, disguised as a delivery courier, approaching Parubiy and brandishing a weapon before fleeing the scene. Authorities have initiated a large-scale search operation for the suspect.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has characterized the attack, which occurred on Saturday, as a “terrible murder” and conveyed his condolences to Parubiy’s family.
Parubiy, aged 54, gained prominence during the Euromaidan protests in Ukraine, advocating for closer ties with the European Union and leading to the ousting of pro-Russian former President Viktor Yanukovych in 2014.
Ukrainian authorities have launched a special operation, codenamed Siren, to locate and apprehend the suspected shooter.
“All necessary forces and means are being deployed,” President Zelensky stated.
Prosecutors have stated that “an unidentified gunman fired several shots at the politician,” resulting in Parubiy’s “death on the spot.”
During a press briefing on Saturday, Lviv police chief Oleksandr Shliakhovskyi reported that the gunman “fired approximately eight shots from a firearm, the type of which is currently undetermined.”
He added that the attack appeared to be “very carefully planned.”
Lviv’s chief prosecutor, Mykola Meret, stated that all potential motives for the shooting are under investigation, including the possibility of Russian involvement.
Law enforcement sources in Ukraine informed BBC News that seven shell casings were recovered from the scene.
The source further indicated that the attacker was dressed as a courier for the delivery service Glovo. Video footage of the incident shows the suspect carrying a yellow delivery bag.
The assailant is also reported to have been using an e-bike.
A Glovo spokeswoman stated that the company is “deeply shocked by the brutal crime” and will fully cooperate with the investigation.
Parubiy was a key figure in the Euromaidan movement, which began after Yanukovych’s government refused to sign an association agreement with the EU in late 2013.
He organized and coordinated Maidan’s “self-defence” – armed teams of protesters who guarded the sprawling tent camp in the heart of the capital Kyiv.
He was injured several times during clashes with Ukraine’s riot police.
Following Yanukovych’s ouster, he became secretary of Ukraine’s National Security and Defence Council, during a period when Russia-armed separatists began fighting in eastern Ukraine – and when Russian President Vladimir Putin annexed the southern Crimea peninsula.
Following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Parubiy joined Ukraine’s territorial defence.
He had been a lawmaker in Ukraine’s current parliament.
Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha described Parubiy as “a patriot and statesman who made an enormous contribution to the defence of Ukraine’s freedom, independence and sovereignty”.
Sybiha added: “He was a man who rightfully belongs in the history books.”
Former President Petro Poroshenko said the killing of Parubiy was “a shot fired at the heart of Ukraine”.
“Andriy was a great man and a true friend. That is why they take revenge, that is what they are afraid of,” he wrote on Telegram, pointing to Parubiy’s contribution to building the Ukrainian army.
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