Monday, April 28, 2014

Mayor of Kharkov, Ukraine shot in back, hospitalized - press service

Published time: April 28, 2014 09:32
Edited time: April 28, 2014 14:11
Kharkov Mayor Gennady Kernes (RIA Novosti/Chekachkov Igor)
Kharkov Mayor Gennady Kernes (RIA Novosti/Chekachkov Igor)
The mayor of the eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkov, Gennady Kernes, has been shot in the back, the city council’s press service reports. He is currently in serious condition in one of the city’s hospitals.
Kernes was shot while cycling on a road in the north of the city, Yury Sidorenko, of the mayor’s press service, told RT.
“They shot him in the back from the forest,” Kernes’s friend Yury Sapronov said. “The injury is serious. His lung is pierced and his liver pierced all the way through.”
The mayor was taken to the local hospital at about 11:30 am (8:30 GMT) local time.
Following an operation that lasted two hours, Valery Boyko, the surgeon who was treating Kernes, called his condition serious as his diaphragm had been injured. He also said that his interior organs have been damaged and he will remain in serious condition for at least several days.
Boyko said that the doctors had stopped the bleeding, but that Kernes is currently unconscious.
“The operation was performed successfully. Now we rely on God and wish strength to Gennady Kernes,” he added.
Meanwhile, Sidorenko, of mayor’s press service, declined to comment about who was behind the shooting. He only told RT that Kernes “has been recently receiving a lot of threats from various people.”
A shell “allegedly from sniper rifle” was found at the site where the mayor was shot, Irina Kushchenko, from the public relations department of the city’s Executive Committee.
Party of Regions presidential candidate Mikhail Dobkin, a close friend of Kernes, said the gunman used live fire. According to Dobkin, there was a 7.62 mm shell from a Dragunov sniper rifle.

Photo from www.facebook.com/gennadykernes
Photo from www.facebook.com/gennadykernes
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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