(Reuters) -A prominent anti-Russian activist was shot dead in the Ukrainian port city of Odesa on Friday and law enforcement authorities said they were not ruling out Russian involvement in the killing.
A 31-year-old victim was named as Demian Hanul, a blogger who local media said took part in the 2014 Maidan revolution against Ukraine’s then pro-Russian president. He was also once a member of the far-right Right Sector group, media said.
“The incident is qualified as a premeditated murder committed by order,” national police said on Telegram.
The Security Service said a 46-year-old military deserter had been detained as a suspect.
Possible motives for the crime are being investigated, it said on local Telegram, adding that this included it being linked to Russia.
A video posted on local Telegram claimed to capture the moment of the shooting. It showed a burly man holding a gun to the head of a man lying on a pavement, possibly already dead, firing, and then walking away.
Reuters could not verify the authenticity of the clip.
Russian state media has previously branded Hanul a neo-Nazi responsible for an arson attack on the Trade Union House in Odessa in May 2014, a reference to deadly fighting between pro-Russian activists and supporters of Ukrainian unity then.
A Moscow court charged Hanul in absentia in April 2024 with several crimes including damaging Soviet-era war monuments for which he would have faced up to 20 years in prison.
Several media outlets reported last July that Hanul had requested Ukrainian police protection after receiving threats.
(Reporting by Yuliia Dysa,Editing by Gareth Jones and Angus MacSwan)
