In eastern Ukraine, elections are being held in the self-proclaimed people’s republics of Donetsk and Luhansk.<br /><br />Pro-Russian separatists are voting to set up a breakaway regional leadership.<br /><br />Kyiv, the European Union and the United States have denounced the vote as illegitimate, but Russia says it will recognise the results.<br /><br />“Our voters live on the territory of the ‘Russian world’ [Russkiy Mir], explained Roman Lyagin,Chairman of the Central electoral commission of Donetsk People’s Republic (DNR). <br /><br />“The Russian world is where we are, they live almost all over the planet, we let them vote on-line and we try to give as many voters as we can the chance to vote,” Lyagin continued,<br /><br />The central election commission said more than three million voters will cast their ballots. Two million of those live inside the rebel-controlled area.<br /><br />Euronews travelled to Petrovka a small suburb of Donetsk. We spoke with 77-year-old Anatoly, a pensioner and former miner.<br /><br />He built a gym which was intended to be a Christian Orthodox corner for meditation as well as a museum of the Soviet Union. <br /><br />But a rocket destroyed everything and Anatoly decided to reconstruct the gym using the money he had saved for his funeral expenses.<br /><br />Poverty has his Petrovka hard. Many villagers just want an end to the conflict. <br /><br />The area has been hit by high unemployment.<br /><br />“Well, when this was Ukraine there were some jobs,” said Andrey. “There is no doubt about that. But now, as it happens, there are no jobs at all.”<br /><br />Our euronews correspondent in Ukraine, Sergio Cantone, reported: “This is an electoral process being held under the emotional pressure of war. Therefore people want to vote hoping that a stronger power might help to undertake the reconstruction.”
