A shot in the heart of Ukraine: a year ago, Andriy Parubiy was killed in Lviv.

A year ago, Andriy Parubiy, a People’s Deputy of Ukraine from the European Solidarity faction, Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of the eighth convocation, Commandant of the Maidan Self-Defense Force, and Hero of Ukraine, was killed in Lviv.

“You’ve been gone for a year, Andriy… My friend, my comrade-in-arms, the man with whom we went through the Maidan, worked in the Verkhovna Rada, fought for military reform, the establishment of the Ukrainian language, and the independence of the Ukrainian Church, is gone,” Petro Poroshenko wrote on social media.

“We were together when Ukraine’s fate was being decided. We continued the fight for the values of the Revolution of Dignity, when parliament adopted the irreversibility of Ukraine’s course toward the EU and NATO, the approval of the Ukrainian language, the legislative strengthening of the army, and the independence of the Ukrainian church. Together, we did everything to ensure that Ukraine finally left Russia’s orbit,” the fifth president writes.

“Andriy Parubiy belonged to a cohort of statists who understood well who our eternal enemy was and that our European path must be firm and consistent. A year ago, this wasn’t just a shot fired at a man. It was a shot fired at the Army, at the Language, at the Faith. At the very heart of Ukraine,” Poroshenko noted.

“But the enemy was mistaken. For you can kill a man, but you cannot kill the ideas for which he lived. In Kyiv, a street named after Andriy Parubiy has appeared near Mariinsky Park, close to the places where you defended Ukraine as the commandant of the Maidan and where the modern history of our state was made. In Lviv, a square named after Andriy Parubiy has appeared. There, in the center of your beloved city… This is memory. This is historical justice. This is our duty to you,” writes Petro Poroshenko.

“You never lived in the past. You always looked forward and fought for Ukraine’s future. Therefore, we have no right to stop. We must do everything to ensure that the Ukraine you fought for wins. We must do everything we can to ensure that it is strong, European, and Ukrainian. We must ensure that its accession to the EU and NATO finally takes place. We must ensure that your struggle is not in vain. You remain with us, Andriy. In our actions. In our struggle. In our memory. Eternal memory to my friend, and I will honor Andriy Parubiy,” writes Petro Poroshenko.