A suspect has been arrested and an investigation is underway into the murder of Ukrainian politician Andriy Parubiy as police suggested there may be a Russian link to the killing.
A gunman fired several shots at the former parliamentary speaker, 54, in the western city of Lviv on Saturday.
Internal Affairs Minister Ihor Klymenko said the suspect was detained in the western Khmelnytskyi region within 36 hours of the shooting, with the help of dozens of Lviv and national police officers and Security Service of Ukraine employees.
Police published two photographs from the scene of the arrest that show two special forces officers holding a handcuffed man by the arms. Naked to the waist, he has his back to the camera and his face is not visible.
Mr Parubiy gained prominence during Ukraine’s Euromaidan protests calling for closer ties with the European Union, and led to the ouster of pro-Russian President Viktor Yanukovych in 2024.
Mr Klymenko added: “The crime was carefully planned: the victim’s schedule was studied, the route was mapped out, and an escape plan was thought out.”
The investigation and arrest were personally supervised by Zelensky, he said.
“We know this crime is not accidental. There is a Russian trace in it,” Ivan Vyhivskyi, head of the National Police of Ukraine, said in a statement posted on Facebook.
Separately, Zelensky said chief prosecutor Ruslan Kravchenko informed him that the suspect had given an initial testimony.
“The entire law enforcement team and the prosecutors are working around the clock,” the President wrote on X. “The National Police and Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Security Service of Ukraine, the Prosecutor’s Office – everyone is acting as efficiently as possible.”
The shooting was reported at around noon (9am GMT) on Saturday, according to national police, just hours after Russia had launched another huge volley of missiles and drones at targets across Ukraine.
Unverified footage appeared to show the moment the attacker, dressed as a delivery driver and wearing a helmet, walked up behind the politician and shot him. Ukrainian media reported that the attacker then fled the scene on an electric bicycle.
Russia has not yet commented on the killing or on the suggestion that it was involved in the incident.
Mr Parubiy was a member of parliament had been parliamentary speaker from April 2016 to August 2019. He was also secretary of Ukraine’s National Security and Defence Council from February to August 2014, a period when fighting began in eastern Ukraine and Russia annexed the Crimea peninsula.
“This is a matter of security in a country at war, where, as we can see, there are no completely safe places,” Lviv mayor Andriy Sadovyi s wrote on Telegram.
