Ukraine: Armed men open fire on crowd during referendum

Eastern Ukraine referendums seek approval to declare sovereign the Donetsk and Luhansk regions

National guardsmen fired on a crowd Sunday in eastern Ukraine, where voters were lining up for a disputed referendum on whether to split from rest of the country.

Eastern Ukraine referendums seek approval to declare sovereign the Donetsk and Luhansk regions (photo CBC)

An insurgent leader was quoted by the Russian news agency ITAR-Tass as saying that there were fatalities.

The Associated Press reported that one of its photographers witnessed the shooting, in the town of Krasnoarmeisk, where dozens of guardsmen had shut down voting earlier in the day.

The photographer saw two people motionless on the ground, the AP reported.

Eastern Ukraine referendums seek approval to declare sovereign the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, where armed pro-Russia insurgents have taken control of government buildings and clashed with Ukrainian troops.

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Roy Siemens

Roy likes politics. Knowledge is power, Roy constantly says, so he spends nearly all day gathering information and writing articles about the latest events around the globe. He likes history and studying about war techniques, this is why he finds writing his articles a piece of cake. Another hobby of his is horse – riding.