Andriy Parubiy, a former speaker of the Ukrainian parliament and key figure in the 2013 pro-European Maidan revolution, was shot dead in Lviv on Saturday, prosecutors have confirmed. A murder investigation has been launched, and President Volodymyr Zelenskyy condemned the killing as a “horrific murder”.
The assassination occurred as European foreign ministers met in Copenhagen to discuss measures to increase pressure on Moscow to end its war against Ukraine. EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas stated that Russia was “clearly not preparing for peace” and was instead “preparing for more war”.
The informal summit addressed options for a fresh sanctions package, including import bans, secondary sanctions, and further action against Russia’s shadow fleet. Ministers also explored using Russia’s frozen assets for Ukraine’s reconstruction, with Kallas asserting that “it is unthinkable that Russia will ever see this money again unless it fully compensates Ukraine for damages”.
The meeting followed a violent week that saw a large Russian airstrike on Kyiv killing at least 21 people, an overnight strike on a residential building in Zaporizhzhia, and a “massive attack” on the Dnipropetrovsk region. Danish foreign minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen noted that President Putin “only understands the language of hard pressure”.
