KIEV, Ukraine (AP) — The mayor of Ukraine's second-largest city was shot in the back Monday and pro-Russia insurgents seized yet another government building as tensions rose in eastern Ukraine ahead of a new round of U.S. sanctions. 
 
 Russian solder patrols near army vehicle in a field about 2 kilometers (1.24 miles) from the Ukrainian border at Novoshakhtinsk, Rostov region, Russia, Monday, April 28, 2014. (AP Photo/Pavel Golovkin) (Associated Press) 
 
 Masked pro Russian armed men stand at the city hall during negotiations about the release of foreign military observers being held by Ponomarev's group in Slovyansk, eastern Ukraine, Sunday, April 27,... (Associated Press) 
 
 Axel Schneider of Germany, foreground, leads a group of foreign military observers escorting by Vacheslav Ponomarev, the self-proclaimed mayor of Slovyansk, right, ahead of a press conference in city... (Associated Press) 
 
 Russian solder patrols near army vehicle in a field about 2 kilometers (1,24 miles) from the Ukrainian border at Novoshakhtinsk, Rostov region, Russia, Monday, April 28, 2014. (AP Photo/Pavel Golovkin) (Associated Press) 
 
 Armed insurgents tacitly backed by Moscow are seeking more autonomy in the region from the interim government in Kiev. In a bid to ratchet up the pressure on Russian President Vladimir Putin, President Barack Obama has promised to levy new sanctions on Russian individuals and companies in retaliation for Moscow's alleged provocations in eastern Ukraine. 
 
 Hennady Kernes, the mayor of Kharkiv, was shot in the back Monday morning, his office said. Kernes was said to be undergoing surgery and "doctors are fighting for his life," according to the city hall. 
 
 Officials have not commented on the circumstances of the shooting and it was not clear who was behind it. Kernes was a staunch opponent of the pro-West Maidan movement that toppled President Viktor Yanukovych in February and was widely viewed as the organizer of activists sent to Kiev from eastern Ukraine to harass those demonstrators. 
 
 But he has since softened his stance toward the new Kiev government and insisted that he does not support the pro-Russia insurgents or any annexation of Ukrainian territory. 
 
 Kharkiv is in eastern Ukraine where pro-Russian gunmen have seized government buildings, set up roadblocks or staged protests to demand greater autonomy or outright annexation by Russia. 
 
 Ukraine's acting government and the West have accused Russia of orchestrating the unrest, which they fear Moscow could use as a pretext for an invasion. Last month, Russia annexed Crimea weeks after seizing control of the Black Sea peninsula. 
 
 On Monday, masked militants with automatic weapons seized another city hall building in eastern Ukraine, this time in Kostyantynivka, 160 kilometers (100 miles) from the Russian border. 
 
 After the seizure, about 15 armed men guarded the building. Some posed for pictures with residents while others distributed St. George's ribbons, the symbol of the pro-Russia movement. 
 
 Kostyantynivka is just 35 kilometers (22 miles) south of Slovyansk, a major city in eastern Ukraine that has been in insurgents' hands for more than three weeks now. 
 
 President Obama said on visit to the Philippines earlier on Monday that the targets of the latest U.S. sanctions will include high-technology exports to Russia's defense industry. The full list, which is also expected to include wealthy allies of Putin, will be announced by officials in Washington later Monday. 
 
 The European Union is also planning more sanctions against Russia, with ambassadors from the bloc's 28 members to meet Monday in Brussels to add to the list of Russian officials who have been hit by asset freezes and travel bans. 
 
 The increasingly ruthless pro-Russia insurgency is turning to an ominous new tactic: kidnapping. 
 
 Dozens of people are being held hostage — including the seven observers, journalists and pro-Ukraine activists — in makeshift jails in Slovyansk. 
 
 The German government on Monday decried the seizure of the eight European military observers there and called for their immediate release. The observers, including three German officers, were detained Friday on allegations they were spying for NATO. 
 
 Pro-Russia militants in camouflage and black balaclavas paraded some of the captive European military observers before the media on Sunday. They also showed three captured Ukrainian security guards bloodied, blindfolded and stripped of their trousers and shoes, their arms bound with packing tape. 
 
 A Swedish officer was released Sunday and German captive Col. Axel Schneider spoke that same day, stressing at a news conference — under armed guard — that they were on an OSCE diplomatic mission and not spies. 
 
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 Nataliya Vasilyeva in Moscow and Julie Pace in Manila, Philippines, contributed to this report. ||||| Image copyright AP Image caption Mr Kernes has been described as a "mini-oligarch" 
 
 The mayor of Kharkiv in eastern Ukraine has been shot and critically wounded amid continuing unrest in the region. 
 
 Hennadiy Kernes was recovering after a two-hour operation to repair damage to the chest and abdomen, but his life remained in danger, his office said. 
 
 Monday also saw pro-Russian separatists seize a local government building in Kostyantynivka, a town to the south. 
 
 The US has meanwhile expanded sanctions to include targets linked to President Vladimir Putin's "inner circle". 
 
 The list includes seven new individuals and 17 companies. The European Union is also expected to announce new sanctions. 
 
 Western nations accuse Moscow of supporting separatist gunmen who are occupying official buildings in cities across eastern Ukraine. 
 
 The separatists continue to hold seven Western military observers who were seized last week in the region. 
 
 Image copyright Reuters Image caption Monday saw pro-Russian separatists seize a local government building in Kostyantynivka 
 
 Image copyright Reuters Image caption Administrative buildings across eastern Ukraine are in the hands of Russian-speaking, pro-Moscow elements 
 
 Image copyright AFP Image caption Authorities in Kharkiv said several people were injured when football fans marching for a united Ukraine scuffled with pro-Russia supporters in Kharkiv on Sunday 
 
 Mr Kernes was reportedly out jogging in Kharkiv on Monday when he was shot in the back by an unknown gunman. 
 
 The head of the hospital where Mr Kernes is being treated, the Surgery Institute in Kharkiv, said he had suffered a "very serious wound", and that a number of organs had been damaged. 
 
 Valeriy Boyko said the threat to the mayor's life had not been eliminated, but that the bleeding had been stopped, his condition was stable and that intensive care doctors were treating him for shock. 
 
 Mr Kernes used to be a supporter of the former pro-Moscow President Viktor Yanukovych. He then dropped his support for the ousted president in favour of a united Ukraine. 
 
 He has been described as a "mini-oligarch" - a successful businessman wealthy enough to launch a career in politics. 
 
 He has been accused of starting his business career as an organised crime boss, a claim he denied while acknowledging that he was once jailed for fraud - a minor offence "partly fabricated" by his enemies, he insisted. 
 
 Kharkiv was also the scene of clashes on Sunday when football fans marching for a united Ukraine scuffled with pro-Russia supporters. The authorities in Kharkiv said several people were injured. 
 
 On Monday morning, gunmen wearing uniforms with no insignias moved into the local administrative building in Kostyantynivka and raised the flag of the self-proclaimed "Donetsk Republic". 
 
 They were also reported to be in control of the police station in Kostyantynivka, which is located between the town of Sloviansk and the city of Donetsk, both also controlled by separatists. 
 
 'Not personal' 
 
 US President Barack Obama confirmed the stepping up of sanctions against Russia, which he said was part of a "calibrated effort" to change Moscow's behaviour in Ukraine, during a visit to the Philippines. 
 
 He said the measures were in response to Moscow's failure to uphold an international accord aimed at peacefully resolving the Ukraine crisis. 
 
 A White House statement said the new targets were "seven Russian government officials, including two members of President Putin's inner circle, who will be subject to an asset freeze and a US visa ban, and 17 companies linked to Putin's inner circle, which will be subject to an asset freeze". 
 
 Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption President Obama: "The aim is not to go after Mr Putin personally" 
 
 Mr Obama said the sanctions were not aimed at Russian President Vladimir Putin personally. 
 
 "The goal is to change his calculus with respect to how the current actions that he's engaging in could have an adverse impact on the Russian economy over the long haul," he said. 
 
 Meanwhile, ambassadors from the 28 EU member states are meeting in Brussels to agree new sanctions against Russia. 
 
 Ukraine's media highlights "It is time to tear down the masks: this is not separatism, this is terrorism… Our liberal treatment of the militants and the attempt to portray their activities as separatism amount to aiding the biggest evil of the 21st Century." (Ukrainian news website Obozrevatel) "The EU's intentions are serious. The capture of the OSCE mission was a direct insult. Sanctions will hit Russia's interests. Russian decision-makers will have to think twice if they are denied access to their bank accounts in Europe." (Popular daily tabloid Segodnya) "Against the background of the dramatic situation in Sloviansk and other cities... the patriotism of my regional compatriots is not that noticeable. But it is the pro-Ukrainian position of the unarmed majority - despite the weakness or corruption of local security forces - that inspires optimism: we shall overcome!" (Donetsk-based Novosti Donbassa website) 
 
 The US and EU already have assets freezes and travel bans in place targeting a number of Russian individuals and firms accused of playing a part in the annexation of Crimea last month. 
 
 BBC Europe correspondent Chris Morris says it is expected that the ambassadors will add another 15 people in positions of power to the list of those to whom sanctions apply. 
 
 Our correspondent says the White House wants a show of unity from the US and Europe, but there is little consensus within the EU at the moment for implementing broader economic sanctions against Russia. 
 
 Eight foreign observers - who were operating under the auspices of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) - were led into Sloviansk town hall by masked gunmen and shown to the media on Sunday. 
 
 German monitor Col Axel Schneider, who spoke for the group, stressed they were not Nato officers - contrary to claims made by the separatists - nor armed fighters, but diplomats in uniform. 
 
 Later, one of the group - a Swede - was freed for medical reasons. 
 
 The fate of five Ukrainian military officers accompanying the mission is unknown. 
 
 Are you in Ukraine? How has the unrest affected you? You can email us your experiences at haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk, using the subject line 'Ukraine'. ||||| (JTA) — The Jewish mayor of Ukraine’s second-largest city was shot in a suspected assassination attempt that left him in critical condition. 
 
 The mayor of Kharkiv, Gennady Kernes, “sustained a gunshot wound to the back,” officials from the eastern Ukraine city said in a statement issued Monday. “Now he is in the hospital emergency room, on the operating table. Doctors are fighting for his life.” 
 
 The attack took place at about noon, according to the statement, which did not contain any information on who perpetrated the attack. Kernes was on his routine morning jog when he was shot, the news site Vesti.ua reported. 
 
 The CEO of the National Television Company of Ukraine, Zurab Alsasnia, wrote on Facebook that evidence suggested Kernes had been ambushed during his jog by a sniper who studied the mayor’s habits. 
 
 The official website of the Kharkiv Jewish community describes Kernes as “Jewish by ethnicity.” Eleonora Groysman, editor of the Jewish Ukrainian news site evreiskiy.kiev.ua, also told JTA that Kernes is Jewish. 
 
 According to the Euro-Asian Jewish Congress, the 2009 election campaign in which Kernes became mayor was mired with anti-Semitic hate speech targeting him and other Jewish candidates. 
 
 Ukraine has seen deadly clashes between political opponents since the eruption in November of a revolution that started with protests over then-President Viktor Yanukovych’s perceived pro-Russian policies. Yanukovych was ousted from power in February and replaced with an interim government that has scheduled elections for next month. 
 
 Several anti-Semitic attacks, including two stabbings and two attempts to torch synagogues, have occurred since November in Ukraine, a country with relatively low levels of anti-Semitic violence.
– Gennady Kernes, the mayor of the Eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv, was shot in the back this morning, and doctors are currently performing emergency surgery and "fighting for his life," city hall tells the AP. The circumstances of the shooting are unclear, though a Ukrainian report spotted by the Wall Street Journal said he was swimming in a local spring. Kernes was a staunch ally of ousted president Viktor Yanukovych, notes the BBC, and was accused of sending activists to Kiev to harass pro-Western protesters against him. When Yanukovych fled the country, Kernes briefly did too, before returning and declaring that he now supported a united Ukraine. Kharkiv has so far managed to fend off the pro-Russian separatists that have taken over many other Eastern Ukrainian cities. Kernes is also Jewish, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency points out, and was the target of anti-Semitic hate speech during his mayoral election. Meanwhile: Masked militants today seized the city hall building in yet another town—Kostyantynivka, which lies between Slovyansk and Donetsk—and raised a flag proclaiming it part of the "Donestsk Republic." They also reportedly control the town's police station. The self-proclaimed mayor of Slovyansk held a press conference yesterday in which he paraded before the cameras a group of European military observers separatists had captured, declaring them "prisoners of war." He accused them of being spies for NATO, and said he might exchange them for pro-Russian activists held by Kiev, CNN reports. The observers said they'd agreed to the press conferences so that their families could see them. Shortly after the appearance, the separatists released one of the observers for health reasons; the Swedish captive had been suffering from diabetes.