STORY: Ukrainian former parliamentary speaker Andriy Parubiy was shot dead in the western city of Lviv on Saturday (August 30) and a search was under way for the killer.

The Prosecutor General's office said a gunman had fired several shots at Parubiy, killing him on the spot. The attacker fled and a manhunt was launched, it said.

Parubiy, 54, was a member of parliament, had been parliamentary speaker from April 2016 to August 2019, and was one of the leaders of protests in 2013-14 calling for closer ties with the European Union.

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.

Officials gave no immediate indication whether the murder had any direct link to Russia's war in Ukraine.

National police said the shooting in Lviv was reported at around noon (0900 GMT). Lviv Mayor Andriy Sadovyi said finding the killer and establishing the circumstances of the attack was of outmost importance.

DESCRIPCIÓN DE IMÁGENES

SHOWS: LVIV, UKRAINE (AUGUST 30, 2025) (REUTERS - Access all)

1. BODY OF ANDRIY PARUBIY, UKRAINIAN FORMER PARLIAMENTARY SPEAKER, ON GROUND BEHIND POLICE TAPE

2. POLICE OFFICER AND FORENSIC EXPERTS ON SITE

3. FORENSIC EXPERT GETTING INTO CAR

4. PARUBIY'S BODY ON GROUND

5. POLICE OFFICERS LOOKING ON

6. FORENSIC EXPERT TAKING PHOTOGRAPHS OF BODY

7. POLICE OFFICERS ON SITE

8. FORENSIC EXPERT, PARUBIY'S BODY

9. POLICE OFFICERS

10. FORENSIC EXPERTS BEHIND POLICE TAPE

11. VARIOUS OF POLICE OFFICERS TALKING