Kharkiv's Choral Synagogue, the largest synagogue in Ukraine. Photo: WikiCommons.

JNS.org – The Jewish mayor of Kharkiv, Ukraine, who has been slowly recovering in an Israeli hospital after being shot in the back by an unidentified gunman, has woken up, according to new report by Chabad.

Gennady Kernes, 54, “woke up, and he’s speaking a little. G-d willing, I hope to visit him soon,” said Kharkiv’s chief rabbi and Chabad emissary, Rabbi Moshe Moskovitz.

“After the recent [tumultuous] news in Odessa, people are more worried because of how suddenly the situation disintegrated there,” he added. “We hope that everything remains calm here, and a stable peace returns to this country.”

Meanwhile, Jewish organizations in the Ukrainian city of Odessa are preparing evacuation plans in case the violence worsens.