Andriy Parubiy (R), seen here in January 2014, was shot dead Saturday in the western Ukrainian city of Lviv. On Sunday, a suspect was arrested. Photo by Sergey Dolzhenko/EPA
A suspect has been arrested in Saturday’s shooting death of politician Andriy Parubiy, Ukraine’s former secretary of the National Security and Defense Council, according President Volodymyr Zelensky and other high-ranking officials.
The identity of the suspect has not been released.
The gunman is accused of fatally shooting Parubiy on Saturday in Ukraine’s northwestern city of Lviv. Maksym Kozitskiy, head of the Lviv region’s military administration, said on Telegram that Parubiy died at the scene before medics could arrive.
Zelensky confirmed the suspect’s Sunday arrest in a statement, saying “the necessary investigative actions are ongoing.”
In a second statement, the Ukrainian president said that he was informed by Prosecutor General Ruslan Kravchenko that the suspect has given “an initial testimony.”
The suspect was detained in Khmelnytskyi, located about 150 miles southeast of Lviv in central Ukraine, officials said.
According to authorities, the attack was carefully planned. The Security Service of Ukraine, known as the SBU, said in a statement that the suspected “studied the victim’s schedule of movements, mapped out the route and prepared an escape plan.”
Dozens of local officers, SBU agents and those of the National Police and the Office of the Prosecutor General were involved in the arrest, said Ukraine’s Minister of Internal Affairs Ihor Klymenko.
“Once again, the police and Security Service of Ukraine demonstrated a high level of professionalism. Within 24 hours of the murder, they were already on the direct trail of the shooter, and within 36 hours, they detained him,” he said.
Parubiy, 54, was a current member of Parliament. He had previously served as Ukraine’s security chief, resigning from the position in August 2014.
