Thousands in Ukraine attend funeral of former lawmaker and critic of Russia who was killed in Lviv

Several thousand mourners attended the funeral Monday in the western Ukrainian city of Lviv for a former lawmaker best known for her campaign to promote the Ukrainian language who was fatally shot in the street by an unknown assailant.

Iryna Farion, 60, was shot on Friday and 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 about her killing. “Killed, they killed her near her house during the day, on a sunny day.”

Farion served as a member of the Ukrainian parliament between 2012 and 2014, and was best known for her campaigns to promote the use of the Ukrainian language, urging that Ukrainian officials should not speak Russian. She controversially criticized 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.

Lviv resident Olha Arden, 64, praised Farion.

“For me she is a patriot, a nationalist and she is our fighter for the Ukrainian language, the strongest fighter,” she said. “For 32 years she fought for the Ukrainian language. We respect and honor her. We will remember her after death.”