Armed pro-Russian separatists and a Ukrainian militia group clashed in the east of Ukraine on Friday, leaving at least two dead and heightening tension before a presidential election called to draw a line under six months of bloody upheaval, according to The Associated Press.
Kiev's pro-Western leaders hope Sunday's poll will stabilize the former Soviet republic after street protests toppled Moscow-backed president Viktor Yanukovich and pro-Russian separatists responded by seizing Crimea and parts of eastern Ukraine, the AP reported.
European leaders will consider steps against Russia on Tuesday if they decide Moscow has hampered the election, ranging from restrictions on luxury goods imports to an oil and gas ban, although some are wary due to close trade ties, according to the AP.
The Ukrainian authorities have promised a suspension of anti-separatist operations on the day of the election, billed as the most important in 23 years of independence from Moscow, but Friday's clash suggested violence may mar the event, the AP reported.
"We are determined that honest and transparent elections will take place," interim Prime Minister Arseny Yatseniuk said, according to the AP. Yatseniuk added that, despite separatist plans to disrupt the poll in eastern areas they control, he believed the majority of people there opposed the "terrorists" and condemned their actions.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said in St. Petersburg Ukraine was already in effect in the grip of civil war, the AP reported.
"A civil war is raging through Ukraine. But why are we the ones who are being blamed for this?" Putin reportedly asked at an international business forum, according to the AP.
Russia has annexed Ukraine's Crimea region and stationed thousands of troops in combat readiness near the border with Ukraine as armed pro-Russian rebels took over strategic buildings in the east, the AP reported. On Friday, Moscow said it would pull back all forces from its border with Ukraine "within a few days", a move that, if carried out, could ease tensions around the election.
