Ukrainian troops recaptured almost all the territory of Donetsk airport in eastern Ukraine they had lost to separatists in recent weeks, even as thousands gathered in Kiev for a state-sponsored peace march yesterday.

World leaders called for an immediate ceasefire in eastern Ukraine and demanded speedy access for international investigators to the crash site of the Malaysia Airlines jetliner shot down over the country’s battlefields.

Pro-Russian insurgents are likely to prevent voting tomorrow in half or more of the election districts in the embattled east, Ukrainian officials said.

At least half of the election districts in eastern Ukraine have been unable to prepare for tomorrow’s presidential election, an official said today.

Ukraine and Russia have blamed each other for a shoot-out at a checkpoint manned by pro-Russia insurgents in eastern Ukraine that left one person dead and others in hospital with gunshot wounds.