On Friday, March 14, 2025, Ukrainian law enforcement reported the shooting death of a well-known anti-Russian activist in the port city of Odesa. While authorities have not officially identified the 31-year-old victim, local media have confirmed it was Demian Hanul, a blogger who was active in the 2014 Maidan Revolution against Ukraine’s pro-Russian president and was once a member of the far-right group Right Sector.
The National Police of Ukraine classified the incident as a premeditated murder carried out on orders, sharing the update via the Telegram messaging app.
Ukraine’s Interior Minister, Ihor Volodymyrovych Klymenko, mentioned that investigators had received specific leads to locate the suspect. The head of the National Police was en route to Odesa to oversee the investigation.
Russian state media had previously labeled Hanul a neo-Nazi and blamed him for the 2014 arson attack on the Trade Union House in Odesa, which involved deadly clashes between pro-Russian activists and Ukrainian unity supporters. In April 2024, a Moscow court charged Hanul in absentia with several crimes, including damaging Soviet-era war monuments, for which he could have faced up to 20 years in prison.
Reports from last July indicated that Hanul had requested protection from Ukrainian authorities after receiving threats to his life.
