Jewish Mayor in Ukraine Shot

U.S. Announces New Sanctions

The mayor of Ukraine’s second-largest city was shot in the back Monday, and hundreds of men attacked a peaceful pro-Ukraine rally with batons, bricks and stun grenades, wounding dozens as tensions soared in Ukraine’s volatile east.

One presidential candidate said the mayor was deliberately targeted in an effort to destabilize the entire city of Kharkiv, a hub of 1.5 million people.

Armed insurgents tacitly
backed by Moscow are seeking more autonomy in eastern Ukraine — and possibly even independence or annexation with Russia. Ukraine’s acting government and the West have accused Russia of orchestrating the unrest, which they fear Moscow could use as a pretext for an invasion.

Ratcheting up the pressure, President Barack Obama’s government levied new sanctions on seven Russian officials and 17 companies with links to President Vladimir Putin’s inner circle. The U.S. also revoked licenses for some high-tech items that could be used by the Russian military.

In Brussels, the European Union moved to add 15 more officials to its Russian sanctions list to protest Moscow’s meddling in Ukraine. That decision, reached by the ambassadors to the EU’s 28 nations, was being formally confirmed by the EU’s governments, officials told The Associated Press.

In the eastern city of Donetsk, about 1,000 demonstrators carrying Ukrainian flags marched through the streets to hold a pro-Ukrainian rally Monday night. They were attacked by several hundred armed men shouting “Russia!”

Police attempted to hold the pro-Russia men back but then largely stood aside as dozens of protesters were battered.

Gennady Kernes, the mayor of Kharkiv, a Jew, was shot in the back Monday morning while cycling on the outskirts of the city, his office said. He underwent surgery and was reported by the hospital to be in “grave but stable” condition.

Kerness’ friend and former Kharkiv governor Mykhailo Dobkin told journalists the attackers had aimed at Kernes’ heart and wanted to kill him to destabilize the city

Kharkiv is in eastern Ukraine, where pro-Russia gunmen have seized government buildings and police stations and set up roadblocks to demand greater autonomy or even annexation by Russia. But unlike the neighboring Donetsk region, Kharkiv had been largely unaffected by the insurgency. Its administration building was briefly seized earlier this month but promptly cleared of pro-Russia protesters.

Meanwhile, the increasingly ruthless pro-Russia insurgency is turning to an ominous new tactic: kidnapping. About 40 people are being held hostage in makeshift jails in Slovyansk — including journalists, pro-Ukraine activists and seven military observers from the Organization of Security and Cooperation in Europe, Ukraine’s Security Service said Monday.

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon strongly condemned the capture of the military observers, demanded their immediate release and urged any U.N. members with influence to work to help end their detention.

The United States also slammed the detentions, with State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki saying it was “imperative for senior officials in Moscow to condemn the abduction and demand the team’s immediate release.”

This article appeared in print on page 1 of the April 29th, 2014 edition of Hamodia.