Editor's note: The story was updated with comments by President Volodymyr Zelensky.
An unidentified person opened fire on Iryna Farion, a far-right Ukrainian former lawmaker and linguist, in the city of Lviv on July 19, Ukrainian officials reported.
A 60-year-old woman was hospitalized with a gunshot injury to the head, according to Ukraine's National Police. Her condition is "extremely serious," the prosecutors said.
While police did not disclose her name, Lviv Oblast Governor Maksym Kozytskyi wrote, that the victim was Iryna Farion.
Law enforcement officers are seeking to identify and detain the attacker. President Volodymyr Zelensky was briefed about the situation by the interior minister and the head of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU).
"Obviously, any violence deserves to be condemned and anyone responsible for this attack must be held fully accountable," Zelensky said.
Iryna Farion, who is known for her controversial statements on the use of the Russian language in Ukraine, entered the ultranationalist party Svoboda in 2005 and served as a member of the parliament between 2012 and 2014.
She was reinstated in June 2024 as a professor at the Ukrainian language department at Lviv Polytechnic University shortly after being fired. Farion sparked outrage when she said on Nov. 6 that she couldn't call Ukrainian soldiers Ukrainians if they speak Russian.
The scandal around Farion's statements escalated after she allegedly received a message of support from Maksym Hlebov, a pro-Ukrainian student living in occupied Crimea. She published the email on her social media, after which received harsh criticism.
Ukraine's Security Service (SBU) said in November 2023 that Farion is under criminal investigation both for her statements about Russian-speaking soldiers and for leaking the message from Hlebov.
Martin Fornusek
