RT
April 28, 2014
The mayor of the eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkov, Gennady Kernes,
has been shot in the back by unidentified gunmen, the city council’s
press service reports.
At about 11:30 am (8:30 GMT) local time Kernes was taken to the local
hospital. The City Hall’s website says that doctors are fighting to
save his life.
“They shot him in the back from the forest,” Kernes’s friend Yury
Sapronov told Vesti Ukrainy news outlet. “The injury is serious. His
lung is pierced and his liver pierced all the way through.”
Kernes was shot while cycling, according to conflicting media
reports, Yury Sidorenko from the mayor’s press service told RT. The
doctors are currently operating, he added.
Sidorenko said he did not have any information about whether Kernes had regained consciousness.
He declined to comment about who was behind the shooting. He only
said that Kernes “has been recently receiving a lot of threats from
various people.”
A mayor of Kharkov since March 2010, Kernes had been a strong
supporter of President Viktor Yanukovich right till his ouster in
February. Since then he supported the new Ukrainian authorities and kept
his position.
The shooting comes a day after ultranationalists clashed with anti-government protesters in the city, leaving 14 people injured.
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