Ballot boxes slowly filled up with mostly “yes” votes, this one had the Ukraine crest turned to the wall, others were scratched off altogether.
Vitaly, a 38-year-old baker and member of the local militia said that he was voting for “independence” at a polling station in Sloviansk.
A woman stands outside a voting booth in Sloviansk, inside a young boy stands with his mother who voted “yes.”
their uniform color and lack of identifying insignia, has only fueled the fear and anger — feeding into the rebels’ rhetoric that the government are a “fascist junta” persecuting the region’s Russian speaking majority.Ukrainian forces target Pro-Russia regions before referendum vote. Read more here.Indeed, just hours before the polls opened on Sunday, gunfire rattled and explosions echoed through the night air as rebels clashed with the Ukrainian army on the outskirts of the city into the early hours.
Militia fighter with a Kalashnikov across his knee crouches by a barricade near Andreevka village the night after heavy fighting with the Ukrainian army.
A militia fighter crouches beneath a rusty train carriage which forms a barricade watching for the Ukrainian army’s movement on top of the hill.
selfie. “He’s fabulous, he has saved this city, from these Kiev murderers,” crooned one fan.
Rebel fighters pose by a People’s Republic of Donetsk flag the morning after heavy clashes with the Ukrainian army.