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Automatically translated version. May contain inaccuracies compared to the original.
The man accused of killing Andriy Parubiy, Mykhailo Stselnikov, testified in court about preparing for the attack and his escape plans. He also said he wants to go to Russia as part of a prisoner exchange.
This was reported by Suspilne from the courtroom. Before the hearing began, Stselnikov handed an open letter to media representatives in which he stated that he wishes to voluntarily go on an exchange to Russia.
"My son, Stselnikov M. M., died 20.05.2026 in the city of Bakhmut. I know better than anyone what it means to lose a loved one and to wait for months for any news about your son. Therefore I publicly state my desire to voluntarily go on an exchange to Russia and save someone’s son," the letter from Mykhailo Stselnikov says.
The hearing began at 11:26. In addition to the defendant, his lawyer Viktor Ponomarenko, prosecutor Taras Kovalchuk, Andriy Parubiy’s relatives, and the victims’ lawyer Yuriy Zoshiy were present. Ulyana Parubiy asked Stselnikov whether anyone had given him information about Andriy Parubiy’s place of residence. The defendant said no, but said he knew the deceased lived in a new house on Yefremova Street.
The man said that before the killing he took a Makarov pistol and two magazines from a cache in the forest. For the attack he used an entire magazine — eight rounds — and buried the remaining bullets in the forest.
"I was prepared that if this pistol didn’t work out, I would just modify another weapon to that caliber. For example, a Flobert pistol. In theory I know how that’s done," Mykhailo Stselnikov said.
The defendant said that after the attack, at about 8-9 hours, he picked up an acquaintance’s father-in-law and drove from Lviv in his own car to the village of Kolodiyivka in Khmelnytskyi region, near the border with Moldova, where his classmate lived. The trip took about six hours. He then planned to leave Ukraine.
"Every person would probably want to leave calmly. Do you think I really wanted to be caught? I didn’t. But that’s what happened. I was prepared for that if need be," Mykhailo Stselnikov said.
The defendant added that he had two separate goals — revenge against the authorities and looking for his son — and after the attack he planned to go to Russia to continue the search. When Parubiy’s wife asked whether anyone had promised to help him cross the border in exchange for the killing, Stselnikov answered yes, clarifying that he negotiated this on Telegram with an unknown nickname. According to the defendant, he refused any monetary reward for the attack. Victims’ lawyer Yuriy Zoshiy asked whether the man was sure he was communicating with a representative of the Russian security services — Stselnikov replied that he was 90% sure.
Andriy Parubiy’s father said that his son twice appeared on “lists for elimination” compiled by an unknown person and received corresponding messages. When asked who had sent those messages, the defendant said he didn’t know the deceased’s phone number and didn’t need that information. After this, the hearing was adjourned until 30 September.
The investigation proved the suspect’s involvement in high treason
During investigative actions, law enforcement found and seized the pistol used to kill Andriy Parubiy — the very weapon the suspect tried to hide in a specially prepared “cache.” According to information published in a piece about new details of the Parubiy case, the investigation established that the suspect was involved not only in the intentional killing but also in a number of serious crimes against the foundations of Ukraine’s national security.
In light of the new circumstances, the suspect’s actions were additionally qualified under the article on high treason, as well as under articles on justification and glorification of Russia’s armed aggression. According to the investigation’s version, Stselnikov acted in the interests of Russian special services during martial law, passed the enemy information about the deployment of Ukrainian Armed Forces units, and provided intelligence materials to coordinate sabotage activities.
Earlier, Informator reported that Parubiy’s killer was kept in custody for another 60 days without the right to bail at the request of the Lviv Regional Prosecutor’s Office. At that time the investigation was ongoing, and the suspect was charged with high treason, attempted assassination of a member of parliament, and illegal handling of weapons. We also wrote that then-Attorney General Ruslan Kravchenko showed interrogation video in the Parubiy murder case in which the suspect cynically stated he would have shot again if he had had the opportunity.
Document: PDF proof of the original version of the news item "Вбивство Парубія - обвинувачений розповів, як готувався до замаху та планував втечу до РФ". It records the publication content at the moment of the first scan, the preservation date and the source: Informator.
