Iryna Farion, 60, was shot dead on Friday by an unidentified gunman in Lviv street. Police said that the attack on the former Ukrainian nationalist MP seemed to be a 'targeted' one.
The gunman has not been identified by the police yet. Also, the power outage affected the CCTV in the area making it difficult for the investigators to identify the suspect. "An investigation is underway," said the police.
Farion was a linguistic professor and she was known for campaigns upholding the Ukrainian language and discrediting public officials for speaking the Russian language. In 2023, she caused a controversy by suggesting that "true patriots" of Ukraine should not speak Russian under any circumstances.
Lviv Regional Governor Maksym Kozytskyi confirmed Farion's death. "She died in hospital after the shooting," said Kozytskyi.
Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said the police were investigating the motive behind the attack. "This was not a spontaneous killing," said Klymenko.
In a Telegram message, he said, "We already have several versions. The main ones, I can say, are [linked to Farion's] social and political activities and personal dislike.”
"We do not rule out that the murder has a commissioned character," said the statement.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy condemned the attack and said "Whoever is guilty of this attack must bear full responsibility."
Farion became a member of the nationalist Svoboda (Freedom) party in 2005 and was elected to parliament in 2012, but failed in subsequent attempts to win a seat. She had also served on the Lviv regional council.
Amid the Russian-Ukraine war, that began in February 2022, Farion denounced Russian-speaking fighters of the Azov regiment who defended the port city of Mariupol for three months. Though Ukrainian is the sole state of the language of Ukraine, many residents speak Russian as a first language, a legacy of Soviet rule.
