Parubiy, a sitting member of Ukraine’s parliament and former speaker of the Verkhovna Rada, died before emergency services could reach him
Ukrainian lawmaker Andriy Parubiy was fatally shot in what authorities describe as a “carefully planned” attack in the western city of Lviv on Saturday, with the suspect remaining at large. Parubiy was struck multiple times with a short-barreled firearm.
The assailant, who fled the scene, has yet to be identified but is believed to have been “thoroughly prepared” for the targeted killing.
Parubiy, a sitting member of Ukraine’s parliament and former speaker of the Verkhovna Rada, died before emergency services could reach him, head of the Lviv region military administration, Maksym Kozitskiy, confirmed.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky condemned the killing as a “horrendous murder”, echoing law enforcement’s assessment that the act was deliberate and premeditated.
“Ukraine’s Minister of Internal Affairs Ihor Klymenko and Prosecutor General Ruslan Kravchenko have just reported the first known circumstances of the horrendous murder in Lviv. Andriy Parubiy was killed. My condolences to his family and loved ones. All necessary forces and means are engaged in the investigation and search for the killer,” Zelenskyy said in a post on X.
European Parliament President Roberta Metsola also expressed deep shock at the murder and extended her condolences to Parubiy’s family and the Ukrainian people. “Deeply shocked by the terrible murder of the former Chairman of the @verkhovna_rada, Andrii Parubii, in Lviv. My heartfelt condolences to his family and friends,” she stated in a post on X.
Parubiy, 54, had been active in Ukrainian politics since the early 1990s, co-founding the Social-National Party of Ukraine in 1991 before later distancing himself from the group. He served in the Ukrainian parliament from 2007 until his death. He played a significant role in Ukraine’s political uprisings, including the 2004 Orange Revolution and the 2013-14 Maidan protests.
During the latter, he led operations in Kyiv’s Independence Square, becoming a key figure in the movement that led to the ouster of then-President Viktor Yanukovych. Parubiy later served as Secretary of the National Security and Defence Council for Ukraine in 2014 and was known for championing national identity policies, including the 2019 language law mandating Ukrainian as the official language in many public domains. Former Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko also reacted strongly, describing the perpetrators as “monsters” who target Ukraine’s patriots.
“This crime–it’s not just shots at a person. It’s shots at the Army. It’s a shot at the Language. It’s a shot at the Faith. It’s a shot in the heart of Ukraine,” Poroshenko stated in a post on X. “I express my deepest condolences to the family and loved ones. Ukraine has lost a great son, but his cause will live on as long as our state lives. This is an act of terror, and it is the honor of the special services and law enforcement to find and punish the guilty and those involved. Eternal memory and eternal glory to Andriy Parubiy. Heroes do not die… Glory to Ukraine!” he added.
Meanwhile, Ukraine destroyed two bridges inside Russian territory with the use of cheap drones to precisely target stockpiles of mines and ammunition hidden there by Russian forces, CNN reported.
According to the Ukrainian military, the two bridges–located close to the border with Ukraine’s Kharkiv region–were being used by Russia to resupply its troops.
The bridges were mined by the Russian forces because of their strategic importance, allowing them the option of blowing them up in the event of a sudden Ukrainian advance.
It is a common wartime tactic for militaries under pressure to demolish their own infrastructure–bridges, highways, and other key routes–to block enemy movement. Ukraine itself carried out such measures in the opening days of Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022, when it destroyed bridges on the approaches to Kyiv, slowing the Russian advance and defending the capital.
In this case, Ukrainian forces discovered the Russian stashes of mines and turned that knowledge to their advantage, CNN reported.
The operation was conducted by Ukraine’s 58th Separate Motorized Infantry Brigade, which told CNN that its soldiers became suspicious after noticing unusual activity around one of the bridges.
“It became clear that something was going on there. We couldn’t fly a regular reconnaissance drone under the bridge because the signal would simply disappear, so we flew in with a first-person-view drone equipped with fiber optics,” a brigade representative told CNN.
Drone footage shows the device approaching the bridge, revealing a large pile of anti-tank mines and other munitions. A piece of fabric that appears to have been covering the stash is seen tossed to the side.
“We saw the mines, and we struck,” the brigade member said.
The recording cuts off as the drone crashes into the explosives, triggering a massive blast. Separate footage, filmed from a distance, captures the explosion. CNN confirmed the location of the bridge as being in Russia’s Belgorod region, near the Ukrainian border.
“After that, we decided to check the other bridge. We found it was also mined and we struck,” the brigade representative explained, adding: “(We) saw an opportunity and took it.”
The demolition of the two bridges–and the unconventional method used–marks a rare success story for Kyiv.
Ukraine is currently grappling with mounting pressure along the frontlines, where Russian forces are slowly pushing forward while President Vladimir Putin continues to stall any ceasefire negotiations.
Meanwhile, Moscow maintains its offensive on Ukrainian cities, carrying out near-daily airstrikes that have killed civilians and devastated infrastructure across the country.
