By Thomas Grove and Richard Balmforth
KIEV/DONETSK Ukraine Mon Nov 3, 2014 6:15pm EST
1 of 8. Members of a local electoral commission carry a ballot box at a polling station after voting day in Donetsk, November 2, 2014.
Credit: Reuters/Maxim Zmeyev
KIEV/DONETSK Ukraine (Reuters) - Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko called an emergency meeting of his security chiefs for Tuesday to discuss new ways of dealing with the separatist challenge in the east after rebel elections that were denounced by Kiev and the West.
The rogue votes, which Kiev says Russia encouraged, could create a new "frozen conflict" in post-Soviet Europe and further threaten the territorial unity of Ukraine, which lost control of its Crimean peninsula in March when it was annexed by Russia.
Organizers of the twin ballots said insurgent leaders had emerged victorious in both Donetsk and Luhansk -- two Russian speaking areas of eastern Ukraine -- throwing down the gauntlet to Poroshenko, who vehemently opposed the election.
In a statement, the Ukrainian president denounced the vote as an "electoral farce", repeating that it violated a bedrock deal struck in the Belarusian capital Minsk on Sept. 5 intended to pave the way for a settlement of the separatist problem.
His sentiments were echoed by the White House, which condemned what it called "illegitimate, so-called 'elections'" and warned economic penalties on Russia "will rise" if Moscow continues to violate the Minsk deal.
"We are concerned by a Russian Foreign Ministry statement today that seeks to legitimize these sham 'elections,'" Bernadette Meehan, spokeswoman for the White House National Security Council, said in a statement on Monday.
More:
Ukraine crisis deepens after rebel vote in east | Reuters