DONETSK (UKRAINE) - Pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine spurned a parliamentary election being held Sunday, saying they already knew the results: more war.
Ukrainian soldiers stand guard as women walk to a polling station during Ukraine's parliamentary elections in the village of Raygorodka, near Lugansk, on October 26, 2014
"There is nothing good to expect from these elections in Ukraine. War, bombardments, all this horror will continue," said Natalia, 42, a resident of the main separatist-held city Donetsk.
There were no polling booths in the rebel-held territories -- the government decided against even trying to hold elections there and the separatists, in any case, refused to allow them. That meant about three million people did not cast their ballots.
"I don't know anyone who has any intention of leaving Donetsk to go and vote," said a young man in one of the mostly deserted streets of Donetsk, where nearby artillery explosions could be heard sporadically.
In theory, residents in places such as Donetsk were free to leave and vote elsewhere in Ukraine, but first they'd have to navigate train and road networks in what remains a tense conflict zone -- and get past armed rebels hostile to anyone taking part in the polls.
Just attempting to leave one of the rebel-held towns meant passing through checkpoints and risking being accused of defying the self-proclaimed separatist Donetsk People's Republic and Lugansk People's Republic.
"There has been no more traffic through our checkpoint than usual. I think very few people are going out to vote. It's not their business," said a rebel commander on the main road leading to the government-held city of Dnipropetrovsk.
Igor Chumachenko, 30, was one of those who did get out, leaving Lugansk ahead of the election to vote in Severodonetsk.
"I've been here (in Severodonetsk) for a while, but I think I could have come from Lugansk today (Sunday). The important thing of course would have been not to tell them at the checkpoints that you were going to vote," he told AFP.
- Donetsk adopts Moscow time -
In Donetsk, where sporadic fighting continues on the outskirts near the ruins of the airport, there is only pessimism about what will follow the vote.
"I am not expecting any good changes from Kiev," said Lyubov Ilienko, 53, crying as she showed journalists the ruins of her house.
"My house was destroyed on October 3. My sister was killed in another bombardment on October 4. She wasn't a terrorist or a separatist, she just lived there," said a neighbour, Vyacheslav, 50. "These elections don't interest me."
Fyodor, who was out cutting wood for heating his home, said his wife and one-year-old baby "live without running water, electricity or gas, because the Ukrainian army bombarded us. What interests us is not the Ukrainian elections, but survival."
Littered on the ground near him were remains of rockets and machinegun bullet casings.
"They bombarded us again yesterday evening. How can we believe in any improvements?" said Fyodor, who said he had not voted.
To underline what they think of the election, the separatist authorities in the Donetsk and Lugansk areas changed clocks to Russian, instead of Ukrainian, time on Sunday. And next week it will be their turn to hold elections -- not recognised by Kiev.