Wednesday, April 30, 2014

Ukraine crisis: Kharkiv mayor transferred to Israel for treatment after assassination attempt



April 30 (Brisbane Times) Kharkiv mayor Gennady Kernes may have been able to see the person who shot him, one of the surgeons who operated on him yesterday following the attempted assassination has said.
Dr Andrey Kozachenko, deputy head of Meschaninov Emergency Aid Hospital said the gunman would have been in front of Mr Kernes based on the entry and exit wounds caused by the bullet, contrary to initial reports in which a witness described Mr Kernes being shot in the back. “Yes, he was shot in the front,” Dr Kozachenko said on Tuesday morning, after he assisted in yesterday’s surgery. The bullet entered Mr Kernes’ front left side, destroying one of his adrenal glands and causing damage to his stomach and muscle around the spinal cord, before exiting his back, he said.
“Fortunately not the liver, fortunately not the heart, fortunately not the kidney … fortunately not any major organs,” Dr Kozachenko said. Mr Kernes might have been able to see the shooter and identify them when he recovers, Dr Kozachenko said, although the mayor would be facing a recovery of perhaps half a year. Dr Kozachenko said Mr Kernes, who is Jewish, was transferred to a hospital in Israel at about 3am in a stable condition for further operations.
He said he wasn’t sure which exact hospital Mr Kernes was transferred to, but thought it was one in Haifa because it was close to the border with Syria and the doctors there would have treated thousands of gunshot wounds. Yury Sydorenko, director of information at the council, said Israeli doctors decided after examining his wounds that Mr Kernes could be transported and he was flown out early on Tuesday. He is now being treated at Elisha, a private hospital in the northern city of Haifa.

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