Former speaker of Ukraine’s parliament, Andriy Parubiy, has been shot dead in Lviv, sparking shock and grief across the country. Authorities confirmed that the 54-year-old politician was gunned down in the city’s Frankivsk district around midday local time on Saturday.
According to unconfirmed reports, Parubiy was attacked by a gunman disguised as a courier riding an e-bike, and was struck multiple times. Ukrainian police and the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) have launched a joint investigation into the killing, though the identity and motive of the assailant remain unclear.
President Volodymyr Zelensky described Parubiy’s death as a “terrible murder” and vowed that the perpetrators would be found. “All necessary forces and means are being deployed to investigate and find the killer,” Zelensky said, adding his condolences to Parubiy’s family.
Parubiy rose to national prominence during Ukraine’s 2013–2014 Euromaidan movement, which pushed for closer ties with the European Union and eventually toppled pro-Russian President Viktor Yanukovych. He later served as secretary of the National Security and Defence Council at a critical time when Russian-backed separatists launched their insurgency in eastern Ukraine and Moscow annexed Crimea.
Between 2016 and 2019, Parubiy served as the speaker of the Verkhovna Rada, Ukraine’s parliament. Following Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022, he joined Ukraine’s territorial defence forces, reinforcing his reputation as a committed patriot.
Tributes poured in from across Ukraine’s political spectrum. Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha hailed Parubiy as “a patriot and statesman who made an enormous contribution to the defence of Ukraine’s freedom, independence and sovereignty,” adding that he “rightfully belongs in the history books.”
Former President Petro Poroshenko described the assassination as “a shot fired at the heart of Ukraine,” praising Parubiy as both a close ally and a key architect of the country’s modern military.
As investigators work to establish who was behind the attack, the killing has underscored Ukraine’s fragile security situation amid the ongoing war. For many, Parubiy’s death is not just a personal loss, but a blow to a nation still fighting to safeguard its sovereignty.
