Ukraine voters out in force but rebels thwart polls in east

Ukraine voters out in force but rebels thwart polls in east

Ukrainians thronged to the polls Sunday to elect a president who could avert civil war and financial ruin, facing a bloody pro-Russian insurgency that halted voting across the separatist east.

People cast their ballots at a polling station in the western Ukrainian city of Lviv on May 25, 2014

The ex-Soviet nation on the EU's eastern frontier is fighting for its very survival after Russian President Vladimir Putin responded to the popular overthrow of a Kremlin-backed leader by seizing Crimea, parking thousands of troops on the Ukraine border and backing an uprising in the east.

The insurgency that has riven the Russian-speaking eastern rust belt since early April -- home to seven of Ukraine's 46 million people and most of its heavy industry -- has now claimed more than 150 lives and unleashed the worst chill in East-West relations since the height of the Cold War.

"The first thing we must do is bring peace to all the citizens of Ukraine," billionaire tycoon and election frontrunner Petro Poroshenko said as he cast his vote in Kiev.

"Armed people must leave the streets of towns and cities."

Turnout was reported at above 40 percent after seven hours of voting and was particularly high in Kiev and Ukraine's nationalist west. Even Ukraine's interim president Oleksandr Trchynov had to wait about 45 minutes to cast his ballot.

"A high turnout is the Ukrainian peoples' response to those who for the past three months -- without sparing any expense -- have been trying to turn Ukraine into a failed state and place it under external control," deputy national security chief Viktoria Syuma wrote on Facebook.

But voting was down to a trickle in eastern cities such as Donetsk where masked gunmen in green fatigues patrolled the deserted streets and where only 513 out of 2,430 polling stations had opened across the region by the afternoon.

"Ukraine is now another country so I don't see why we should take part in this election," said one woman in Donetsk city centre who gave her name as Elisabeta.

"It doesn't matter what the result is, it doesn't concern us today."

- First reporter killed -

The ballot was called after Kremlin-allied president Viktor Yanukovych -- his corruption-stained regime long a source of discontent -- was ousted in February in the bloody climax of months of protests sparked by his rejection of a historic EU pact.

But his fall set off a rapid succession of tumultuous events that saw the Kremlin annex the Black Sea peninsula of Crimea and then pro-Russian rebels take up arms in the eastern regions of Donetsk and Lugansk.

The Kremlin appeared set on underscoring its right over Ukraine on election day by dispatching Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev to Crimea for a surprise visit that Kiev immediately denounced as "particular impudence and a deliberate provocation".

Election officials had reported numerous cases of intimidation and attacks and rebels threatened Saturday they would disrupt the vote "by force if necessary".

The Ukrainian authorities mobilised 100,000 police volunteers to ensure security for the vote and no violence or fighting was reported by Sunday evening.

About 2,000 people demonstrated in support of the separatists in the heart of Donetsk as armed men stood guard.

"You are heroes," the crowd shouted. "Do not take prisoners, kill them."

But violence flared Saturday in the flashpoint of Slavyansk -- a rebel stronghold where an Italian photographer and his Russian translator were killed and a French photographer wounded after being caught in a gun battle.

"These deaths are horrid reminders that not enough is being done to protect journalists who risk their lives reporting from conflict zones in Ukraine," said the OSCE's representative for media freedom Dunja Mijatovic.

- 'Glimmer of hope' -

Russian President Vladimir Putin -- facing the threat of further Western sanctions if Moscow interfered in the election -- appeared to make a major concession Friday by saying he was ready to work with the new Kiev team.

"We understand that the people of Ukraine want their country to emerge from this crisis. We will treat their choice with respect," he said.

Russia also said it had started withdrawing from Ukraine's border around 40,000 soldiers whose presence had raised deep Western suspicions about and prompted NATO to send additional fighters to former Soviet satellite nations such as Poland and the Baltic states.

The election should give the new president a stamp of legitimacy as he or she battles the insurgency and tries to repair relations with Ukraine's former masters in the Kremlin.

Opinion polls show billionaire chocolate maker Poroshenko winning 45 percent of the vote -- just short of the 50 percent threshold needed to avoid a June 15 runoff.

Poroshenko's main rival is former prime minister and heroine of the 2004 Orange Revolution Yulia Tymoshenko, but opinion polls showed her trailing by more than 30 points.

"We really want this election to help calm everything down, return it to the peace we had," agricultural firm worker Natalia Filatova said in the eastern city of Dobropillya.

Ukraine is hoping that a new leader will set into motion overdue economic restructuring measures that world lenders are demanding in return for $27 billion (20 billion euros) in aid to stave off bankruptcy and still more social turmoil.

But UniCredit's chief economist Erik Nielsen said the election gave Ukraine only "a glimmer of hope" at avoiding a still deeper crisis.

The new leadership will also have to negotiate with Russia over vital supplies of gas whose shipment Moscow has threatening to halt if Ukraine did not come forward with a huge payment by next week.

Voting closes at 1700 GMT and the first results expected from 2100 GMT.

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