The mayor of Ukraine’s second-biggest city, Kharkiv, is in serious condition after being shot in the back while riding his bicycle.
Gennady Kernes, who is pro-Russian, was taking his usual cycle route when it is believed someone opened fire from nearby woods.
He was immediately rushed to hospital by his bodyguards.
Doctors say his life is still in danger.
Mykhailo Dobkin, Governor of Kharkiv Region said, “We don’t want to build a country where mayors are shot, where it is unsafe to walk on the streets, and where violence is escalating.”
Ukraine’s crisis has deepened with the uprising against Kyiv spreading to the eastern city of Kostyantynivka.
Here armed pro-Russian separatists have seized the police headquarters and a government administrative building, barricading themselves in the sandbags.
