Former Ukrainian Parliament Speaker Andrei Parubi shot dead
The attack on the former head of the National Security and Defense Council took place in the city of Lviv.
BarcelonaFormer Ukrainian Parliament Speaker Andrei Parubi was shot dead in Lviv on Saturday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced in a post on X. "Interior Minister Ihor Klimenko and Prosecutor General Ruslan Kravchenko have been murdered. My condolences to his family. Necessary resources will be allocated to the investigation and punishment of the killer," Zelensky said.
According to police, the victim, who was born in 1971, died at the scene from his injuries. The regional police, the Ukrainian National Police, and the Security Service are investigating the crime. In 2004, Parubi actively participated in the Orange Revolution. In 2007, he was first elected as a member of parliament by the blog Our Ukraine - People's Self-Defense. He was later appointed head of the Ukrainian National Security and Defense Council, and in 2016, he became Speaker of Parliament.
Parubi's leadership in the Euromaidan protests
His party, the pro-European European Solidarity, has linked the events to his past as one of the leaders of the Euromaidan protests that began in 2013, against then-President Viktor Yanukovych's decision to suspend the signing of an Association Agreement with the European Union.
The protests, and the subsequent final polarization of the country into two blocs, represented the seeds of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine. The co-chair of the party's parliamentary group, Irina Gerashchenko, has declared herself convinced that behind Parubi's murder lies "the eternal terrorist enemy: the Russian Federation and its fifth column." "Moscow hated Parubi with all its might, as one of the builders of the state of modern Ukraine," Gerashchenko said. "European Solidarity demands that the authorities and security forces carry out an immediate, thorough, professional, and transparent investigation into the murder," she added.
Former Ukrainian president and pro-European leader Petro Poroshenko also posted his condolences on Facebook in memory of Parubi, lamenting an "act of terrorism" perpetrated by "evil people." "Together," Poroshenko said, "we crossed the Maidan, survived the most difficult years of the war, and affirmed Ukraine's statehood. His courage, sacrifice, and devotion to Ukraine will forever be remembered in the hearts of millions."
