KIEV -- A gunman has shot and seriously injured a member of Ukraine's parliament in what police said was probably a contract shooting. Volodymyr Bortnyk, head of a wealthy firm which services farm implements, was shot in the head and chest as he left his home in central Kiev on Monday morning, police said. "This has all the signs of a contract shooting," said a police source. Bortnyk, a centrist deputy, was re-elected to parliament in last month's Ukrainian election. He was reported to be in a serious condition in a Kiev hospital, but his life was not in danger. His firm, Ukragrotekhservice, had considerable influence in post-Soviet Ukraine and he was believed to have amassed great wealth himself. As in Russia, Ukrainian politicians have expressed concern about what they say is the growth of organized crime.
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