Several people were wounded today when pro-Russian separatists attacked a rally in support of Ukrainian unity in the separatist-held city of Donetsk in eastern Ukraine, a Reuters reporter said.
Dozens of men dressed in military fatigues and wielding baseball bats waded into the rally of some 2,000 people in Donetsk, heart of a separatist uprising against Kiev. They lobbed fire crackers and what appeared to be at least one stun grenade.
A Reuters reporter saw at least five people with head injuries, including both protesters and separatists. The wounds did not appear to be life-threatening but the violence was a fresh sign of the spiralling tensions and disorder in the east.
The protest, during which people chanted “Donetsk is Ukraine!” and waved the Ukrainian flag, dispersed after the violence.
Meanwhile, the pro-Russian mayor of Ukraine's second-biggest city, Kharkiv, is in a serious condition after being shot in the back while he was riding his bicycle this morning.
Gennady Kernes (54), was riding along a route he took almost every day when he was shot, probably by someone hidden in nearby woods, according to Iryna Kushchenko, a spokeswoman for the local government.
His bodyguards were following in a car but were not close enough to intervene, she said. The Interior Ministry said he had been taken to the city's hospital for emergency treatment.
“Doctors assess his condition as serious,” the ministry said in a statement.
Mr Kernes, who worked his way up the ranks of local government, was accused by Ukraine's new pro-western leaders two months ago of promoting separatism by demanding independence when pro-Russian protesters took control of administrative buildings.
Ukrainian forces evicted them this month, making Kharkiv the only major eastern city to have taken back control from the armed protesters who have demanded a referendum on independence for most of eastern Ukraine.
Yesterday, hundreds of soccer fans paraded the streets of Kharkiv shouting “for Ukraine”.
Reuters