Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko condemned eastern separatist elections as illegitimate on Sunday and called on Russia not to recognize the result of the leadership vote.
Poroshenko said the election was "a farce, (conducted) under the barrels of tanks and machineguns" that violated a series of agreements known as the Minsk protocol that underpins a Sept. 5 ceasefire between the rebels and Kiev.
"I count on Russia not to recognize the so-called elections because they are a clear violation of the Sept 5 Minsk protocol, which was also signed by Russia's representative," he said in an online statement.
Polls opened on Sunday (November 2) morning in Donetsk for an election to set up a breakaway regional leadership in eastern Ukraine to take their war-torn region closer to Russia.
The United States and European Union have denounced as illegitimate the vote which is sure too to stoke tensions further between the West and Russia.
The separatists' poll is the latest twist in a geo-political face-off between Russia and the West over Ukraine going back to the overthrow of a Moscow-backed president in February and the installation of a Ukrainian leadership that seeks integration with mainstream Europe.
In Donetsk, the separatists' political and military stronghold, voters dropped ballots into clear boxes pasted with the red, black and blue rebel flags over Ukrainian state symbols.
The big industrial city, which had a peace time population of nearly one million, experienced some of its heaviest mortar and artillery shelling of the last few weeks just hours before voting was due to begin.
Kiev says the vote violates the Minsk protocol that underpins a ceasefire between the rebels and Ukrainian troops. This, although sporadically broken, has allowed a semblance of normality to return to Donetsk following violence that has killed more than 3,700 people.
Kiev's pro-European government says the Minsk agreements, signed by rebel leaders and envoys from Kiev, Russia and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), foresee elections held under Ukrainian law.
These would appoint purely local officials with whom Kiev would agree new local powers to provide the regions with greater say in their own affairs.
The rebels' plan to elect leaders and institutions in a breakaway territory in the regions of Donetsk and neighboring Luhansk, one week after a Ukrainian parliamentary election, violates that agreement, Kiev says.
The vote is certain to further strain ties between the West and Russia, already under several rounds of European and U.S. sanctions for its role in eastern Ukraine, after Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Moscow would recognize the vote.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel told Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday the election was illegitimate and would not be recognized by Europe.
REUTERS