1000’s in Ukraine attend funeral of former lawmaker and critic of Russia who was killed in Lviv

LVIV, Ukraine (AP) — A number of thousand mourners attended the funeral Monday within the western Ukrainian metropolis of Lviv for a former lawmaker finest identified for her marketing campaign to advertise the Ukrainian language who was fatally shot on the street by an unknown assailant.

Iryna Farion, 60, was shot on Friday and later died from her wounds in a hospital. A search is underway for her attacker, who fled the scene. Ukrainian officers mentioned the assault is being investigated as an assassination.

Her daughter Sofia Semchyshyn commented about her killing. “Killed, they killed her close to her home throughout the day, on a sunny day.”

Farion served as a member of the Ukrainian parliament between 2012 and 2014, and was finest identified for her campaigns to advertise using the Ukrainian language, urging that Ukrainian officers mustn’t converse Russian. She controversially criticized Russian-speaking members of Ukraine’s Azov regiment who defended the port city of Mariupol within 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 or he is our fighter for the Ukrainian language, the strongest fighter,” she mentioned. “For 32 years she fought for the Ukrainian language. We respect and honor her. We are going to keep in mind her after demise.”