Hennadiy Kernes has died in a German hospital, associate Pavel Fuks confirms. The longtime Kharkiv mayor and notoriously ruthless politician who survived an assassination attempt in 2014, got COVID-19 in September and was airlifted to Berlin in the plane that took Navalny there.

Kernes won re-election even while his kidneys failed and he was bedridden in Berlin. He’s a complex figure who had many enemies but also the respect of Kharkiv residents who credited him with developing the city. Fun fact: he and Kharkiv hired Rudy Giuliani for security advice.

Before he was shot & paralyzed in 2014, Kernes posted images of his flamboyant lifestyle on Instagram. In the 90s, he had known ties to organized crime. In the 2000s, he was a leading figure in the Party of Regions of Ukraine’s former president, Viktor Yanukovych, a natural fit.

Kernes was a Moscow ally and a Maidan Revolution critic until Yanukovych fled and he saw the writing in the wall for the PoR. He quickly flipped to remain in power in Kharkiv, a move that many argue ensured the city didn’t fall to Russia and its separatist proxies like Donetsk.

Paralyzed and wheelchair-bound for the last years of his life, he was much less visible. I saw him only twice in the last three years when I stayed at a hotel in Kharkiv that he was living in. Swarming with armed guards but just one desk worker, I was the only guest for a week.

Whether you like him or thought he was a thug, Kernes’ death marks the end of an era in Kharkiv. It’s going to be interesting now to see who fills his void in Ukraine’s strategic and second-largest city that borders Russia.

One last thing: this video, which is probably the single greatest Ukrainian political video in history. It might also do more to show who Kernes was than anything else — and he's barely seen in it. But those curse-laden criticisms off-camera? That's him.

Oh here's one with English subs so everyone can enjoy!