Iryna Farion, 60, who was shot on Friday and later died from her injuries, served as a member of the Ukrainian parliament and was best known for her campaigns to promote the use of the Ukrainian language.
Several thousand mourners attended the funeral on Monday in the western Ukrainian city of Lviv for former lawmaker Iryna Farion who was fatally shot in the street by an unknown assailant.
Farion, 60, known for her campaign to promote the Ukrainian language, later died from her wounds in a hospital.
A manhunt is currently underway for her attacker, who fled the scene.
Ukrainian officials said an investigation is being carried out and that the attack is being treated as an assassination.
Her daughter, Sofia Semchyshyn, commented on the killing, saying, “They killed her near her house during the day, on a sunny day.”
Farion served as a member of the Ukrainian parliament from 2012 to 2014 and was best known for her campaigns to promote the use of the Ukrainian language, urging Ukrainian officials not to speak Russian.
She controversially criticised Russian-speaking members of Ukraine’s Azov regiment who defended the port city of Mariupol in the first days of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
“For me, she is a patriot, a nationalist and she is our fighter for the Ukrainian language, the strongest fighter,” said Olha Arden, a Lviv resident who attended the funeral.
“For 32 years she fought for the Ukrainian language. We respect and honour her. We will remember her after death.”
Manhunt for attacker launched
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on his official Telegram channel on Saturday that available surveillance cameras are being worked on just as witness interviews were ongoing.
“All leads are being investigated, including the one that leads to Russia. All necessary forces from the National Police of Ukraine and the Ukrainian Security Service have been deployed to search for the criminal,” Zelenskyy said.
Meanwhile, police are treating “personal animosity” related to the former MP’s social and political activities as a likely motive for the attack, according to Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko, who will oversee the investigation in Lviv.
