The mayor of Kharkiv, Ukraine's second largest city, was fighting for his life on Monday after unidentified gunmen shot him in the back as he went for a morning swim.
Gennady Kernes, 54, was undergoing emergency surgery in hospital, his office said. "The doctors are fighting to save his life," said his spokeswoman Tatiana Gruzinsyaka. It was unclear who was behind the apparent assassination attempt.
Kernes was a leading figure in the Party of Regions of Ukraine's ex-president Viktor Yanukovych. The mayor had bitterly attacked the Maidan demonstrations that caused Yanukovych flee to Russia in February. A flamboyant figure with alleged ties to organised crime in the 1990s, Kernes had backed closer relations with Moscow.
Since the change in government in Kiev, however, Kernes's statements had become more patriotic. He stated that Kharkiv, an eastern university city25 miles from the Russian border, should remain part of Ukraine. A billionaire, he also claimed he was himself a victim of Yanukovych's corrupt system.
Kharkiv journalist Zurab Alasania blamed Russia for Monday's shooting. He noted in a Facebook post that the mayor had not changed his routine of going for a morning lake swim, despite the deteriorating security situation in the east.
"The Russian Federation is identifying and liquidating key centres of resistance," Alasania said.
A group of 30 pro-Russian gunmen seized a police station in the eastern city of Konstantinovka, 30 miles south of the rebel stronghold of Slavyansk. The masked men entered the building at 6am. The police offered no resistance and allowed the gunmen to take over.
The town is 65 miles north of Donetsk, the regional capital, and on the main highway to Slavyansk. It has little strategic importance but appears part of an ongoing plan to establish a rebel "Donetsk People's Republic" on the ground, before a separatist-organised "referendum" due to take place on 11 May.
Via - http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/apr/28/ukraine-mayor-kharkiv-gennady-kernes-shot
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