Prominent Ukrainian politician shot dead in Lviv

KYIV, Ukraine – Iryna Farion, a former Ukrainain nationalist lawmaker known for speaking out against Russia, has been killed by a shot to the head, Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko announced in the early hours of Saturday.

The 60-year-old succumbed to her injuries at a hospital in Lviv on Friday evening. Police and intelligence officers are searching for the perpetrator, Klymenko wrote on Telegram.

Farion had been an outspoken critic of the widespread use of the Russian language in Ukraine. Her nationalist Svoboda party suspects a Russian link to the murder.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy condemned the attack on Farion and directed Klymenko and Security Service chief Vasyl Maliuk to resolve the crime. The perpetrators must be held accountable, he said.

Farion was critically injured by a shot to the temple outside her home on Friday evening. Doctors at the hospital fought in vain to save her life.

Klymenko sees a connection between the murder and Farion’s activities in the community.

“The main theories currently under consideration are personal animosity, social and political activities of Ms. Farion. We do not rule out the possibility that it was a contract killing,” the minister wrote on Telegram. He too did not rule out a Russian link.

Farion had also had run-ins with the Ukrainian judiciary due to her statements against the Russian-speaking population. Following student protests, she temporarily lost her position at the university, where the philologist taught Ukrainian.

Among other things, the professor had sharply criticized the fact that many Ukrainian soldiers at the front continued speaking their mother tongue, Russian. She said she had bought her own drones in the fight against the Russian invasion.

Farion was often criticized for dividing Ukrainian society.

Russian state propaganda, however, met the news of the politician’s death with satisfaction.

“Iryna Farion, who dreamed of the ‘complete elimination’ of the Russian-speaking population, has been eliminated. God handles matters there without us,” wrote Margarita Simonyan, editor-in-chief of the Russian state television channel RT.