9.1.25
Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said early Monday that a suspect had been arrested in the shooting of former speaker of parliament Andriy Parubiy, and had given an initial statement to investigators. A statement from the country’s interior minister suggested that Saturday’s killing had been carefully planned, supporting Zelenskyy’s remarks on Saturday when he said the shooting had been a deliberate plot. Parubiy, a leading figure in the country’s pro-European protest movements of 2004 and 2014, was shot dead in the western city of Lviv. “I thank our law enforcement officers for their prompt and coordinated work,” Zelenskyy said.
Klymenko, posting on Telegram, said dozens of police officers and security officers had been involved in the operation to arrest the suspect, apprehended in the Khmelnytsky region of western Ukraine. “There will not be many details now,” he added. “I will only say that the crime was carefully prepared: the schedule of the deceased’s movements was studied, the route was laid, and an escape plan was thought out.” In the wake of Saturday’s shooting, Ukraine’s public broadcaster Suspilne cited anonymous sources saying the shooter had been dressed as a delivery rider and was on an electric bike. Educated as a historian, Parubiy had campaigned for Ukraine’s independence from the Soviet Union as a young man. After Yanukovych fled to Russia, Parubiy served on the National Security and Defense Council for several months.