Former Ukrainian MP Iryna Farion was shot and wounded outside her home in Lviv on Friday. Farion succumbed to her injuries and died in hospital, doctors told RBC-Ukraine TV channel. She was 60 years old.
Iryna Farion, May 8, 2023
Roman Baluk / Reuters / Scanpix / LETA
Speaking about the attack (before Farion’s death was announced), President Zelensky said that all available resources were being mobilized to respond to the crime. At the time of writing, a manhunt is underway for the shooter, who is believed to be in his 20s and has been seen several times around Farion’s apartment building over the past two weeks. Eyewitnesses told reporters that the shooter was wearing gloves when he approached Farion and shot him in the temple.
Iryna Farion was a controversial public figure. Last November, she claimed in a television interview that Russian-speaking members of the Ukrainian armed forces were not real Ukrainians. She also published a letter of support from a student from occupied Crimea, revealing the person’s identity and exposing her to arrest by Russian police. (Ukrainian authorities investigated Farion’s role in the episode, and she was suspended from her position at Lviv Polytechnic National University for several months.)
