Kernes undergoes long spine surgery in Israeli hospital

Kharkiv – Kharkiv Mayor Hennadiy Kernes, who’s being treated in an Israeli hospital after an attempt on his life, has had spine surgery, the Kharkiv city council press office said in a statement citing Deputy Mayor Svetlana Horbunova-Ruban.

Source: KyivPost, 04.30.2014

BBC: Who is Ukrainian oligarch Dmytro Firtash?

One of Ukraine’s richest men, Dmytro Firtash made his fortune in the Central and Eastern European chemical and energy industry, emerging as a middleman in the trading of Central Asian gas after the collapse of the Soviet Union. The gas tycoon’s business interests centre on his Group DF (Group Dmytro Firtash), one of the biggest players in the European energy market with branches in many countries including Austria, Germany, Switzerland, Tajikistan and Ukraine.

Source: BBC, 04.30.2014

Reuters: Ukraine’s richest man says has faith in industrial east

Ukraine’s richest man, Rinat Akhmetov, said on April 30 he has no plans to sell his businesses in the country’s industrial east and his faith was unshaken in a region increasingly in the hands of pro-Russian separatists. The 47-year-old tycoon said he’d continue to invest in Ukraine, which must find a way to unite again as rebels seized more buildings across the Donbas coal and steel belt around the eastern Donetsk and Luhansk.

Source: KyivPost, 04.30.2014

Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Oleksandr V. Turchynov met with the delegation of pre-electoral mission of the PACE Special Committee on Observation of Early Presidential Election in Ukraine

Source: Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, 04.30.2014