Hennady Kernes, the mayor of Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, has died in Berlin where he was receiving treatment for COVID-19, his friend Pavlo Fuks, a Ukrainian businessman, announced on the Telegram messenger on Dec. 17.
“Coronavirus caused serious complications to (his) health. Eternal memory to you, my friend,” Fuks wrote on Dec. 17.
Kernes was transported to Berlin’s Charite hospital on Sept. 17. Earlier, Ukrainian media reported that the mayor had tested positive for COVID-19. His representatives initially denied that, but later acknowledged he had recovered from the virus. They said that he would return to Kharkiv before New Year.
Then, on Dec. 11, Kharkiv officials reported that both of Kernes’ kidneys had failed and he was receiving full dialysis in Charite.
Kernes had suffered from health problems since he survived an assassination attempt in April 2014. Since then, he had used a wheelchair for mobility.
Despite being hospitalized in Germany and out of the public eye for over two months, Kernes still managed to win another term as mayor during Ukraine’s local elections on Oct. 25, receiving 60% of the vote in the Kharkiv mayoral race. His party, the Kernes Bloc, also won the city council elections and the oblast council elections.
Kernes had served as mayor of Kharkiv, a city of 1.4 million people located 460 kilometers to the east of Kyiv, since 2010.
Controversial mayor
Despite being among Ukraine’s most popular mayors, Kernes’ 10-year reign in Kharkiv was marked by scandals and controversy.
Kernes first saw fame in 2004, when he allied himself with regional businessman Arsen Avakov and supported the Orange Revolution which brought pro-Western President Viktor Yushchenko to power.
Back then, Kernes was among the most powerful people in town, owning several hotels, factories, and a local TV station.
Later, the two became arch-enemies, with Kernes accusing Avakov, now interior minister, of ordering his assassination in 2014. Avakov has denied all accusations in the unsolved crime.
The rift between the two began in 2006, when Kernes supported the pro-Russian Party of Regions, led by Viktor Yanukovych. Soon, Kernes became the head of the city council. Avakov remained in the pro-Western camp and went in opposition.
In 2010, after Yanukovych became president, Kernes was elected mayor. He was re-elected twice, always getting more than 50% of the vote and winning the elections in the first round. Kernes has been known for refurbishing and opening new parks and recreational zones, which helped him draw support from the local residents.
However, outside Kharkiv, Kernes is better known for corruption scandals and his initial support of Russian-backed separatists.
Kernes had been on trial — for three years — on charges of kidnapping, torturing and threatening to murder EuroMaidan Revolution activists. But the court, in an unprecedented decision, suddenly closed the case on Aug. 10 without any kind of verdict or conclusion.
Kernes, then a vocal supporter of Yanukovych, actively opposed the EuroMaidan Revolution, which ousted Yanukovych on Feb. 22, 2014.
In February 2014, Kernes appeared on stage at a rally of pro-Russian separatists that demanded secession. However, Kernes soon backed down, and the Russian-backed secession movements in Kharkiv were halted, making the region escape the fate of Donetsk and Luhansk.
In a 2014 interview with the Kyiv Post, Kernes justified his 180-degree political turn by saying he was a “prisoner” of the political system created by Yanukovych.
A month after stating his pro-Ukrainian political views he was shot while taking his usual morning jog. He never fully recovered and had to use a wheelchair ever since.
Six years after Kernes was shot, the police are still unable to name the perpetrators. Kernes accused the police led by Avakov of sabotaging the investigation. In 2016, Kernes’ former business partner Yuriy Diment was shot dead on a Kharkiv cemetery. That case also remains unsolved.
In 2017, deputy head of the Kharkiv Oblast police Serhiy Chizh told the press that “more than 1,500 people have been interrogated, more than 55 examinations have been carried out.” No suspects have been presented.
Anton Herashchenko, Avakov’s deputy, told the press in October 2016 that the assassination could have been ordered by Yevheny Zhilin, a Kharkiv pro-Russian activist and later militant fighting on behalf of Russia against Ukraine in Donbas. Zhilin was assassinated in Russia just a month prior to Herashchenko’s statement. Both Kernes and Avakov had a longstanding conflict with Zhilin.
Kernes was investigated in a major corruption case involving the distribution of land plots in Kharkiv Oblast. However, after the conclusion of pre-trial investigations, he faced no charges for the alleged theft of as much as $984 million from the allocation of state land plots to people close to the mayor.
In later years, Kernes self-distanced himself from national politics, creating a local political party and not endorsing any of the national political forces.
Now, Ukraine’s parliament must schedule a snap mayoral election in Kharkiv no later than three months after Kernes’ death. At the same time, the new election can be postponed for bureaucratic reasons, as happened in in other cities.
Kharkiv city council head Ihor Terekhov will serve as acting head of the Kharkiv until Kernes’ successor is chosen at the ballot.
