Ukraine Lawmaker Severely Injured In Hunting Mishap9i

KHARKIV, Ukraine -- Evhen Kushnarev, Ukrainian parliamentary and one of the leaders of the country's pro-Russia political faction, was shot and badly injured while hunting, the Interfax news agency reported on Tuesday.


Evhen Kushnarev
Kushnarev is one of the top figures in the Regions Ukraine political party, whose political strength is based in the industrial east and south of the country.

An unknown person or persons shot Kushnarev one time in the stomach, while the former Donetsk province governor was hunting alone in a Kharkiv region nature reserve.

Kushnarev reportedly returned to a hunting lodge unassisted to tell associates "some one fired a shot" before collapsing.

It was not immediately clear whether the shooting was an accident, or an attempted killing.

Surgeons at provincial hospital in the town Izium operated on Kushnarev to stop severe bleeding in his liver. The operation was still in progess by early Tuesday evening.

Kushnarev, an outspoken politician, is widely unpopular in the pro-Europe portions of Ukraine, in no small part because of his public suggestion during Ukraine's 2005 Orange Revolution the country's Russian-speaking East secede, by force if necessary.

Regions Ukraine under Kushnarev's guidance regained control over the Ukrainian parliament in September 2006, and pushed through a series of laws dramatically weakening the country's pro-Europe executive branch.

UPDATE: Ukrainian MP Yevhen Kushnariov has died, Regions Party faction MP Anna Herman told Interfax-Ukraine. Kushnariov suffered a cardiac arrest while in the intensive care unit of a hospital at the town Izium, Kharkiv region.

Source: DPA