Ukraine: Pro-Russian separatists attack Election Offices

Vatican Radio) Government officials in east Ukraine say pro-Russian separatists are seizing election commission offices in a bid to derail Sunday’s presidential poll.

Listen to the report by regional correspondent Stefan Bos...

Amid the turmoil Russia claimed once again it is withdrawing forces near Ukraine's borders to help ease tensions ahead of the May 25 elections. 

However officials still loyal to the central government in Kyiv said pro-Russian activists tried to make it impossible for voters to cast ballots in several areas. 

Gunmen in the self declared Donetsk People Republic reportedly threatened election organizers with guns and seized their offices. 

Unverified footage also appeared to show armed men holding up the bus of Shakhtar Donetsk’s youth football team at gun point.

ACKNOWLEDGING DIFFICULTIES

Even the self-appointed parliamentary speaker of the Donetsk People’s Republic, Denis Pushilin, acknowledged the difficulties.

“Of course there will be attempts...But we are not planning to hold any vote. How can we hold an election of a neighbouring country in our territory,?” he wondered.

Though pro-Kyiv officials in Donetsk say they are working hard to make sure Sunday's presidential poll takes place, the interim government has acknowledged that 
voting may be impossible in at least some areas. 

Rallies have also been held in the region, with factory workers temporarily downing  tools after Ukraine’s richest man Rinat Akhmetov called for a peaceful warning protest against the pro-Russian rebels.

RUSSIAN TROOPS

Amid the tensions the Kremlin claims Russian troops, which had been deployed for drills near the border with Ukraine, are starting to move back to their permanent bases. 

Footage aired on state-controlled Russian television showed long lines of armoured vehicles and tanks moving on big roads after President Vlarimir Putin says the withdrawal was a gesture aimed at providing “benign conditions” for the Ukrainian presidential election.

Yet earlier NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen was among Western officials expressing his doubts. "Now, I think it is the third Putin statement on [the] withdrawal of Russian troops. But so far we haven't seen any withdrawal...," Rasmussen told reporters.  

The United States has acknowledged however that it has seen what it calls "some evidence of preparations for potential movement" of as many as 40.000 soldiers.