Ukraine's Ex-Parliamentary Speaker Is Shot Dead In Lviv

(MENAFN- Live Mint) Andriy Parubiy, former speaker of Ukraine's parliament and a leader of the Maidan protests in 2013-14, was killed on Saturday in the western city of Lviv.

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, in a post on the X social media platform, called it a“horrendous murder.”

Parubiy, 54, died from gunshot wounds before medics arrived, according to Lviv regional governor Maksym Kozytskyi. Law enforcement officers are establishing the circumstances of the killing, Ukraine's Interior Ministry said.

The gunman was disguised as a food delivery worker, wearing a helmet that concealed his face, and carrying a yellow insulated bag. He approached Parubiy on foot, according to a video that was broadcast on state TV.

“As of now, we understand that the crime was very thoroughly planned,” Oleksandr Shlyakhovskyi, the police chief in Lviv region, said on TV.

The police, the state security service and prosecutors are chasing several leads, including potential involvement by Russia, according to the state TV report. Parubiy had left his home and was heading to a nearby gym that he attended regularly, according to the report.

Parubiy was among the leaders of street protests that began in late 2013 and eventually led to the ouster of the Russian-backed former President Viktor Yanukovych in 2014. Over 100 people were estimated to have been killed by pro-Russian government forces during the demonstrations.

Weeks later, Russian President Vladimir Putin illegally annexed Ukraine's Black Sea peninsula of Crimea and triggered a military conflict in eastern Ukraine that expanded into Moscow's full-scale invasion in 2022.

In addition to being elected to parliament in 2014, Parubiy also served as secretary of the National Security and Defense Council that same year. He became the speaker of the parliament in 2016 and was re-elected to the legislature in 2019.

Parubiy was speaker when lawmakers pushed through various reforms aimed at bringing Ukraine closer to the European Union. Those included anti-graft reforms that weren't always easy to get through parliament, and his firm guidance was helpful, former colleagues said.

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