Today, the DPR and LPR are electing their leaders and members of parliaments. The EU has already announced that it won't recognize the outcome. But the citizens of the Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republics have no other way of establishing an administration in the region. Otherwise, there'd be anarchy and chaos.
Grigory Vdovin with information from Donbass.
The poll stations opened their doors at exactly 8 o'clock AM Moscow Time instead of Kiev Time. Both republics switched long ago. By 4:00 PM, the turnout already exceeded 70%. People were standing in lines.
"To make our efforts count. Those people died protecting us. We want to make their fight and their lives count".
To ensure that the voting process went smoothly the electoral commissions had been carefully preparing for a whole week. The village of Sakhanka. It always gets mentioned in the operative reports.
It's the hottest spot in the very south of the republic. The polling station here is extremely close to the frontline. Here's the school. ZSU Forces are behind those trees. Chair of the CEC, Olga Pozdnyakova, demonstrates how the commission will continue working in the basement if they're shelled.
- The entrance…
- To the shelter. The people will go down here.
- They will be working here, right?
- Yes, if they shell us, everybody will go come here, and we'll close the doors.
The DPR servicemen voted in advance so the voting process didn't interfere with defense and the frontline wasn't exposed.
The gentle Azov Sea the crashing waves, the clear autumn sun a fisherman's boat in the waves, and seagulls. An idyllic picture if it weren't for the infamous Shirokino village in the distance.
Eduard Basurin, DPR Defense Spokesman: We were both supposed to withdraw our forces. We did our part but the Ukrainian Army took the village instead. They are shelling villages like Sakhanka from there. Azov Battalion is there.
- It's geography, the more south you go, the hotter it gets.
- It appears to be this way.
The workers are changing the old bricks on the central square of Gorlovka. The mayor explains why they need elections, using a simple brick as an example.
Ivan Prikhodko, mayor of Gorlovka: "We have neither a People's Council nor a leader. We simply can't begin producing and laying these bricks because we need laws, a budget, and allocation of funds".
Makeyevka is a suburb of Donetsk. Communication engineers are installing new antennas. The signal is being improved in an orderly fashion. Across the street, we're helping the communicants on the bench make a video call to their distant relatives.
- It works. Can you see me?
- Of course, I do.
An experiment: we're broadcasting our interview to several devices.
- Was it possible before, in Ukraine?
Viktor Yatsenko, DPR Minister of Communication: In Ukraine, no.
- Is it possible in Ukraine?
- Not here. In Kiev.
- Only in Kiev?
- Only in major cities.
- And you can do it in Makeevka?
- Not only here. We're going to Saur-Mogyla, to the field near Khartsyzsk and then, to Gorlovka. We'll have 4G during our entire trip.
Everyone seems to be focused on peaceful construction and development. Together with Denis Pushilin, we open the renovated bridge that was destroyed in the uneasy 2014.
- One can either burn or build bridges. Is it time to build or is there something left to burn?
Denis Pushilin, Acting Leader of DPR: Building and creating is our main task, as we see it. This bridge makes us closer The path towards each other becomes shorter, more appropriate, and convenient the path that connects us, Luhansk, and Russia.
The polls were closed at 8 o'clock PM. The first results of the elections of the leaders and members of DPR and LPR parliaments are expected on Monday morning.
Grigory Vdovin, Dmitry Vishkevich Dmitry Matrosov, Andrey Rudenko, and Oleg Bondarenko Vesti: News of the Week, Donetsk.
