Iryna Farion, a former Ukrainian parliament member and a fervent supporter of the Ukrainian language, was fatally shot in Lviv.
The attack took place on a street in the western city, prompting police to launch an extensive manhunt for the suspected gunman. Regional Governor Maksym Kozytskyi confirmed Farion’s death on Telegram after she was taken to the hospital, according to The Guardian.
Initially, Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko stated that the incident was being investigated as an attempted assassination.
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has been receiving updates on the search efforts and has condemned the act of violence. Farion, a linguist and former member of the nationalist Svoboda party, served in parliament from 2012 to 2014 and later on the Lviv regional council.
She was renowned for her vigorous campaigns to promote the Ukrainian language and her criticism of public officials who spoke Russian. In 2018, during Ukraine’s conflict with Russian-financed separatists in the east, she called for a campaign to “punch every Russian-speaking person in the jaw.”
In the early months of the February 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, Farion criticized Russian-speaking fighters of the Azov regiment, who defended Mariupol for three months. Although Ukrainian is the sole state language of Ukraine, many citizens speak Russian as their first language, a remnant of Soviet rule when Ukrainian was suppressed.
Promoting the Ukrainian language has been a significant issue, with parliament passing legislation to solidify its use in public life and the services industry.
For more updates, join our WhatsApp channel: https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029VabITrvEAKW7DSkTfP0J