Iryna Farion, a linguist and former Ukrainian lawmaker, died Friday after being shot in the western city of Lviv. She said that Ukrainian soldiers who spoke Russian as their first language should not consider themselves Ukrainian.

"According to Ukraine's National Police, the 60-year-old received a gunshot to the head at around 7:30 pm local time and was taken to hospital.

She was pronounced dead shortly thereafter. "Unfortunately, despite all the doctors' efforts, they failed to save Iryna Farion," Maksym Kozytskyi, governor of the Lviv region, said on Telegram late on Friday.

Farion, who joined the ultranationalist Svoboda party in 2005, served in Ukraine's parliament between 2012 and 2014. She caused controversy in November last year after insisting that Ukrainian soldiers who speak Russian as a first language should not consider themselves Ukrainian.

In the wake of the scandal, she published a letter in support of her views from a pro-Ukrainian student in Crimea, leading for the individual to be temporarily detained by Russian law enforcement. She was soon dismissed from her position at the Lviv Polytechnic National University, until a court said she was to be reinstated in May of this year.

The Spin

Narrative A

Just as Farion brought division to Ukraine over her controversial campaigns, so does her mysterious and tragic death, which risks sowing discord across the nation as the blame game begins. Authorities must tread carefully.

Narrative B

This tragic death is an opportunity for authorities to prove that Ukraine is still a functioning democracy amid the turmoil of war by conducting a swift and transparent investigation, which, contrary to many claims, will bring more unity to the nation. Her murderer must be brought to justice."

https://www.verity.news/story/2024/former-ukrainian-politician-dies-after-being-shot-in-lviv