Updated April 29, 2014 4:27 a.m. ET
Gennady Kernes, mayor of Kharkiv, speaks to journalists on March 15 about unrest in the city amid pro-Russia protests. Kharkiv City Council
MOSCOW—The seriously wounded mayor of Ukraine's second largest city, who was shot in an escalation of violence in the eastern part of the country, has been airlifted to Israel for treatment, city officials said.
Kharkiv Mayor Gennady Kernes was transported to Haifa on Tuesday morning after it was decided his condition was stable enough to allow him to be moved, officials said. He suffered extensive internal damage after being shot in the back by a sniper while exercising along a highway on Monday.
The city of Kharkiv, a major cultural and university center, has so far managed to fend off the separatist unrest that has engulfed the neighboring Donetsk province. Ukraine's Interior Ministry said the shooting may have been "a reaction by separatism-minded individuals to the recent events in Kharkiv."
The city had been an early target of the separatist movement, in which mobs seized government buildings in the east of the country. But officials in Kharkiv were successful in driving protesters out and the movement later shifted to the neighboring Donetsk region where protesters, including heavily armed militants, have made much more headway.
Kiev has accused Moscow of stirring up the separatist unrest and of organizing parts of the rebellion by sending in highly trained Russian military-intelligence officers. Moscow has denied playing any role in the uprising.
A renewed military effort last week by Ukraine to clear militants out of the cities they have seized in the east prompted Russia to launch military maneuvers on its side of the border, where it has recently moved tens of thousands of soldiers. Fears that Russia would invade led Ukraine to curtail its operation to focus on containing the unrest rather than confronting militants directly.
Late Monday, Russia's Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said that Russian forces that had been conducting drills along the border had gone back to their bases and wouldn't invade Ukraine.
City officials initially said Mr. Kernes had been jogging when he was shot, but later said he was biking. On Tuesday morning, Mr. Kernes press secretary went back to the original version and said he was jogging.
The 54-year-old Mr. Kernes is a controversial figure in Ukraine's muddled politics. He used to support President Viktor Yanukovych, a widely discredited politician who was ousted early this year. During the antigovernment protests that preceded Mr. Yanukovych's fall, Mr. Kernes faced allegations that he had helped recruit gangs of civilians that were sent to Kiev to attack protesters. He denied this.
When Mr. Yanukovych fled to Russia at the end of February, Mr. Kernes briefly left the country before returning and adopting a softer tone toward the interim government that replaced the ousted president. The diminutive politician is known for his colorful lifestyle, as shared on his Instagram account, where he posts photos of himself working out and posing with animals.
Write to Lukas I. Alpert at lukas.alpert@wsj.com
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