A former Ukrainian member of parliament and nationalist known for his vocal campaign to protect the Ukrainian language has been shot dead in Lviv.
Police have launched a massive manhunt for a gunman believed to have shot dead Irina Falion, 60, in the street in the western city.
Regional governor Maksim Kozitsky said in a Telegram message that Falion died after being taken to hospital. Interior Minister Igor Klimenko had earlier said the shooting was being treated as an assassination attempt.
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said he was receiving regular reports about efforts to catch the shooter and that any acts of violence must be condemned.
Farion, a linguist, joined the nationalist Svoboda (Freedom) party in 2005 and was elected to parliament in 2012, but failed in subsequent attempts to win a seat. He also served as a member of the Lviv regional parliament.
She gained notoriety for her frequent campaigns to promote the Ukrainian language and discredit Russian-speaking civil servants.
In 2018, as Ukraine was battling Russian-backed separatists who had seized territory in its east, she called for a campaign to “smash everyone who speaks Russian in the jaw.”
Early in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Mr. Falion condemned Russian-speaking fighters from the Azov Regiment, who defended the port city of Mariupol for three months.
Ukrainian is the only official language in Ukraine, but many people speak Russian as their first language, a legacy of the Soviet era when Ukrainian was under official pressure.
Promotion of the language has been an important issue for many years, and parliament has passed legislation to establish its use in public life and the service industry.
