Talk of Ukraine split as fighting flares

Pro-Moscow rebels expressed confidence that eastern Ukraine had chosen self-rule in a referendum yesterday, with some saying that meant independence and others eventual union with Russia as fighting flared.

National guardsmen opened fire on a crowd outside a town hall in eastern Ukraine and an official for the region’s insurgents said there were fatalities.

The bloodshed in the town of Krasnoarmeisk occurred hours after dozens of guardsmen shut down voting in the referendum.

Insurgent leader Denis Pushilin said there were an unspecified number of deaths.

Well before polls closed, one separatist leader said the region would form its own state bodies and military after the referendum, formalising a split that began with the armed takeover of state buildings in a dozen eastern towns last month.

Another said the vote would not change the region’s status, but simply show that the East wanted to decide its own fate, whether in Ukraine, on its own, or as part of Russia.

Eastern Ukraine has been gripped by unrest for the past month as pro- Russia insurgents occupied police stations and government buildings. Ukrainian forces have mounted a limited offensive to try to drive them out.

The Donetsk and Luhansk regions held referendums on declaring the regions as so-called sovereign people’s republics.

Leaders of the vote, which is regarded as illegitimate by the central government and the West, say that sometime after the referendum, a decision will be made on whether to remain part of Ukraine, declare independence, or to seek annexation into Russia.

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,” said Oleksandr Turchynov.

Insurgents in the city of Slovyansk exchanged fire with Ukrainian troops on the outskirts of the city overnight. The Ukrainian defence ministry said that a soldier was wounded in a mortar shelling.

The port city of Mariupol on the Sea of Azov also remained on edge after clashes on Friday 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 destabilising Ukraine or finding a pretext for invasion.

Russia has rejected the accusations.

The Russian president, Vladimir Putin, had asked the referendums’ organisers 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, refused to heed his call.

Election organisers said more than 30% of voters cast ballots in the first three hours of voting, but with no international oversight mission in attendance, confirming such claims is likely to be all but impossible.