Ukraine vote candidate survives gun and grenade attack: party

KIEV Tue Oct 21, 2014 5:52am EDT

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KIEV (Reuters) - A Ukrainian election candidate allied to the prime minister was shot at and came under a grenade attack as he left his home late on Monday, and only survived because he was wearing body armor, his party said.

Volodymyr Borysenko, from Prime Minister Arseny Yatseniuk's People's Front party, was being treated in hospital for shock after the assault - the first of its kind reported during campaigning for Sunday's parliamentary vote, officials added.

Borysenko was attacked as he left his home in Boryspil, a dormitory town near the capital, the party said.

"He was first shot at and then a home-made bomb was thrown under his feet," the party added in a statement. Police described the bomb as a grenade but did not give details on how many attackers were involved.

"Body armor saved Volodymyr's life. He has worn it since receiving phone threats," the party said.

Borysenko is running for a seat in the 450-seat parliament in the first parliamentary election in Ukraine since street protests overthrew a Moscow-backed president in February.

(Reporting By Pavel Polityuk; Editing by Richard Balmforth amnd Andrew Heavens)
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