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 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 Monday 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 Monday 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.
Hennady Kernes, the mayor of
Kharkiv, 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.
Officials have not commented on
who could be behind the attack on the mayor — but Kernes was a man who could
have angered both sides.
Kernes' 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
"If you want to know my
opinion, they were shooting not at Kernes, but at Kharkiv," he said.
Dobkin is among several
candidates running in Ukraine's May 25 presidential election, which the interim
government says Russia is trying to derail.
Kernes was a staunch opponent of
the pro-West Maidan movement that toppled President Viktor Yanukovych in February
and was widely viewed as the organizer who sent activists from eastern Ukraine
to harass demonstrators in Kiev.
But he has softened his stance
toward the new Kiev government. At a meeting of eastern Ukrainian leaders and
acting Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk earlier this month, Kernes insisted he
does not support the armed pro-Russia insurgents and backed a united Ukraine.
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 — something Kernes has been credited with. Its administration
building was briefly seized earlier this month but promptly cleared of
pro-Russia protesters.
The Russian Foreign Ministry said
the attack on Kernes, along with other events, "indicates that it isn't
possible to speak of any 'peaceful' pre-election campaign in Ukraine."
Elsewhere in the east, pro-Russia
militants wearing masks gained another foothold, seizing a city hall building
and police station in the city of Kostyantynivka, 160 kilometers (100 miles)
from the Russian border. The city is 35 kilometers (22 miles) south of
Slovyansk, a major city that has been in the hands of insurgents for more than
three weeks.
After the seizure, about 15 armed
men guarded the city hall building. Some posed for pictures with residents
while others distributed St. George's ribbons, the symbol of the pro-Russia
movement.
Moscow has repeatedly pushed for
a referendum on federal autonomy in Ukraine, but Kiev and its Western allies
have refused, accusing Russia of fomenting separatist sentiment in an attempt
to foil the May presidential vote.
However, Justice Minister Petro
Petrenko said the parliament in Kiev would debate the idea of a referendum on
Tuesday, Interfax news agency reported.
The increasingly ruthless
pro-Russia insurgency, meanwhile, 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.
The German government called
Monday for the immediate release of the European military observers, who were
detained Friday on allegations they were spying for NATO.
Pro-Russia militants in
camouflage and black balaclavas paraded some of the captive military observers
before the media on Sunday. They also showed three Ukrainian security guards
bloodied, blindfolded and with their arms bound.
On the other side, Russia's
foreign ministry said Ukraine's efforts to detain pro-Russia activists has
turned into the "mass persecution of dissenters." The foreign
ministry also said it had information that Ukraine was building large temporary
detention centers for these prisoners.
"Those structures being
constructed very much remind one of fascist concentration camps," the
Russian statement said.
Chapisha Maoni