Security is tightened ahead of Sunday's presidential poll in Ukraine
- 10 years ago
Around 75,000 troops are to be deployed across Ukraine during Sunday’s presidential election.
The two main candidates confectionery tycoon Petro Poroshenko and former premier Yulia Tymoshenko are hoping the vote will bring stability and legitimacy to the government in Kyiv.
But while its clear most people in the capital and the west of Ukraine will vote it’s uncertain how many in the east will participate.
One man accompanied by his son said he was going to vote: “ We want to vote, no doubt about that. We want to follow the message coming from the people here in Maidan Square that we have had enough of being on our knees and that we want to regain our dignity.”
A young woman said she was just visiting Kyiv, “I am from Slovyansk in Donetsk and although we have been forbidden to vote in our town, me and my family hope to travel to Kharkov region and vote there.”
The government has their own loyal armed militias manning checkpoints in the east. They have accused pro-Russian separatists of seizing election commission offices in a bid to derail Sunday’s poll.
The two main candidates confectionery tycoon Petro Poroshenko and former premier Yulia Tymoshenko are hoping the vote will bring stability and legitimacy to the government in Kyiv.
But while its clear most people in the capital and the west of Ukraine will vote it’s uncertain how many in the east will participate.
One man accompanied by his son said he was going to vote: “ We want to vote, no doubt about that. We want to follow the message coming from the people here in Maidan Square that we have had enough of being on our knees and that we want to regain our dignity.”
A young woman said she was just visiting Kyiv, “I am from Slovyansk in Donetsk and although we have been forbidden to vote in our town, me and my family hope to travel to Kharkov region and vote there.”
The government has their own loyal armed militias manning checkpoints in the east. They have accused pro-Russian separatists of seizing election commission offices in a bid to derail Sunday’s poll.