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Voting closing in eastern Ukraine
May 11 - Election offices are closing in eastern Ukraine, where residents are voting on whether they want self-rule away from Kiev. Nathan Frandino reports. Subscribe: http://smarturl.it/reuterssu...
By: Reuters
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Voting closing in eastern Ukraine - Video
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Residents in eastern Ukraine formed long queues at polling stations Sunday to cast their votes in hastily organized independence referendums, defying the central government which called the ballots illegal and funded by neighboring Russia.
The votes seek approval for declaring so-called sovereign people's republics in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, where pro-Russian insurgents have seized government buildings and clashed with police and Ukrainian troops over the past month.
Ukraine's interim president warned that independence for eastern regions would destroy the country's economy. "This is a step into the abyss for the regions," Oleksandr Turchynov said in comments posted on the presidential website Saturday.
Polling stations opened at 8 a.m. (0500 GMT) and were due to close at 10 p.m. (1900 GMT). There were reports of sporadic clashes, but the situation remained calm in most of the sprawling regions with a population of 6.5 million and referendum organizers said they expected a high turnout.
Protesters, Police Clash in East Ukraine
Insurgents in the city of Slovyansk, which has seen some of the most violent clashes between pro-Russian militants and government forces in recent weeks, exchanged fire with Ukrainian troops on the outskirts of the city overnight. The Ukrainian Defense Ministry said an army soldier was wounded in a mortar shelling.
The port city of Mariupol on the Sea of Azov also has remained on edge after Friday's clashes, in which at least seven died. Long lines of voters were seen in the city's streets.
The Ukrainian government and the West have accused Russia of fomenting or even directing the unrest in the east, with the goal of destabilizing Ukraine or finding a pretext for invasion. Russia has rejected the accusations.
Russian President Vladimir Putin had asked the referendums' organizers to delay the vote as he bargained with Western powers on conditions for defusing the worst crisis in relations between Russia and the West since the Cold War. The insurgents, however, have refused to heed his call.
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Ukraine Regions Hold Sovereignty Vote
KIEV, Ukraine (AP) When new Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk invited anti-corruption activists to his apartment in Kiev last month, the first thing he showed off was his toilet. "See for yourself," Yatsenyuk joked. "It's not gold."
It was a jab at ousted president Viktor Yanukovych, who along with his government cronies had a notorious penchant for gaudy luxury.
Yatsenyuk's interim government is seeking to carry out sweeping reforms to break from a culture of self-interest, cynicism and corruption that left the country on the verge of bankruptcy. Images of chandeliers, gilded pillars and ornate marble flooring that emerged from Yanukovych's mansion after he fled caused revulsion across Ukraine.
By contrast, Yatsenyuk flies economy, lets whistleblowers into his home and readily admits to mistakes. Those qualities have helped him grow in stature and win support for his administration even as Ukraine struggles to avoid a possible breakup.
Yatsenyuk leads a motley team of young pro-Western professionals, idealists, nationalists and heroes of the Maidan protests named after the square that was the magnet of dissent as well as veterans of rough-and-tumble Ukrainian politics. As the eclectic group assumed power in February, it knew it faced a daunting challenge: State coffers were empty, the country was deeply polarized and the protest movement was not willing to give the new government any easy breaks.
Then things got dramatically worse: Ukraine lost Crimea to Russia and the government found itself battling pro-Kremlin insurgents, while trying to avoid war with its giant neighbor to the east. "Nobody fully realized the bonus, so to speak, we would be getting in the annexation of Crimea and separatist movements," Ostap Semerak, who holds the title of Minister of the Cabinet of Ministers and is a close ally of Yatsenyuk, told The Associated Press.
The road has been paved with successes and setbacks. But during the rocky journey, Yatsenyuk, who exudes the air of a somewhat nerdy intellectual, has gained respect by proving to be steadfast in the face of quixotic tasks, ready to sacrifice personal interests for the country's good. Yatsenyuk often refers to his new job as a suicide mission and, when congratulated recently on his post, he quipped that condolences were more in order.
While eastern Ukraine is deeply suspicious of the new government, the rest of Ukraine appears to trust its new leaders: A nationwide April poll conducted by the International Republican Institute shows full or partial support for the Yatsenyuk government at 52 percent, up from 46 in March. The poll had 1,200 respondents and a margin of error of 2.8 percentage points.
The positive assessment is not shared by Russia, which casts the new government as a group of nationalist radicals that seized power during an armed coup.
As the country prepares for May 25 presidential elections to choose a new leader, all eyes are on the interim government and its ability to ensure a successful vote, even as eastern and southern regions are riven by unrest.
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Ukraine's Leader Gains Stature With Honest Image
Rickety ballot: carpenters build voting booths in Slaviansk ahead of Sunday's proposed referendum on self-rule. Photo: Getty Images
Mariupol: Ukraine's interim President Oleksander Turchynov warned pro-Russian eastern regions they would be stepping into the abyss if they voted for self-rule on Sunday in a referendum that has raised Western fears of a slide into full civil war.
Barricades of tyres and scrap metal blocked streets in the port city of Mariupol and in Slaviansk, centres of an uprising that has unleashed the worst crisis between the West and Russia since the Cold War.
For a vote on which so much hangs, the referendum in the regions of Luhansk and Donetsk, which has declared itself a "People's Republic", seems a decidedly ad hoc affair.
Deadly clashes: a woman looks at a burned Ukrainian government tank on Saturday after fighting in the city of Mariupol. Photo: Getty Images
Ballot papers have been printed with no security provision and the meaning of the question - asking voters if they support state 'self-rule' for the People's Republic of Donetsk - is, perhaps deliberately, unclear.
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The eastern uprising followed the toppling in February of Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych, whose pursuit of ties with Moscow stirred mass protests by pro-Western activists in Kiev.
Ukrainian forces have been striking back with shows of force especially in Mariupol, an important industrial and shipping centre. The interior ministry said 20 rebels were killed in fighting there on Friday, while hospitals put the number of dead at seven.
Russia denies Western and Ukrainian accusations it has fostered the rebellion. It portrays the Kiev government as hostage to violent anti-Russian nationalists, intent on rooting out the culture and language of the Russian-speaking east.
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Ukraine warns of 'abyss' as rebel east approaches self-rule vote
MARIUPOL, Ukraine As two of the most tense regions in eastern Ukraine prepare to vote on declaring sovereignty, the country's acting president is warning them against self-destruction.
Sunday's ballots seek approval for declaring so-called sovereign people's republics in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, where pro-Russia insurgents have seized government buildings and clashed with police and Ukrainian troops.
At least seven people died Friday in clashes in the city of Mariupol. The city remained on edge Saturday, with barricades of tires blocking some streets in the city center.
The referendums are being conducted by the insurgent movements and are not regarded as legitimate by Kiev or the West.
"The United States will not recognize the results of these illegal referenda," State Department spokesperson Jen Psaki said in a statement late Saturday, calling the votes "an attempt to create further division and disorder."
The elections chief of the insurgents in Donetsk, Roman Lyagin, was quoted by news agencies as saying voting in Mariupol and one other district had begun early because of rising tensions there. He did not elaborate.
Ukrainian President Oleksandr Turchynov, in comments posted on the presidential website Saturday, said supporters of independence for the east "don't understand that this would be a complete destruction of the economy, social programs and general life for the majority of the population."
"This is a step into the abyss for the regions," he said.
The hastily arranged referendums are similar to the March referendum in Crimea that approved secession from Ukraine. Crimea was formally annexed by Russia days later.
But organizers of the eastern vote have said that only later will a decision be made on whether they would use their nominal sovereignty to seek full independence, absorption by Russia or to stay part of Ukraine but with expanded power for the regions.
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Ukraine president decries eastern sovereignty