President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky announced on July 25 that the suspect for the murder of former deputy Irina Farion was arrested.
Zelensky wrote in Telegram that the Minister of Internal Affairs, Igor Klimenko, informed him about the arrest of an 18-year-old youth suspected of the July 19 shooting.
Klimenko said in his statement that the suspect rented at least three apartments in Lviv while preparing the attack on Farion.
The Ukrainian service of “Azatutyun” radio station was able to reveal the identity of the suspect, but decided not to publish the information.
The suspect’s father told Radio Liberty that his son could not have had a motive to kill Farion.
“I am currently on the battlefield and I haven’t seen my son for some time, I have talked to him regularly on the phone,” the man said, adding that his son graduated from Dnipro secondary school.
RFE/RL also interviewed residents of Dnipro, including one woman who described the suspect as a “very nice guy.”
Irina Farion, one of Ukraine’s most famous nationalist figures, was killed on July 19.
Farion was known for his harsh speeches against the use of the Russian language on the territory of Russia, as well as Ukraine. Last year, he was at the center of a scandal after he announced that “the Russian-speaking soldiers fighting in the Ukrainian army are not real Ukrainians.”