As the Ukrainian government prepared to resume peace talks Saturday, Ukraine's election board warned that it may be impossible to hold next week's crucial presidential election in the east, where a pro-Russia insurgency threatens to plunge the country into all-out civil war.

Meanwhile, violence erupted again, with a rebel leader seized and freed Saturday at a checkpoint near the eastern city of Kharkiv, site of the talks, and fighting flaring up overnight near the separatist stronghold of Slovyansk.  

The Central Election Commission called for Kyiv authorities to take urgent action to ensure security in the east, saying the rebellion could prevent almost two million people from voting May 25.

The commission’s warning came as Ukraine's embattled Western-backed government was preparing to hold a second round of "national unity" talks called for under a plan sponsored by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. The commission said it could not prepare for the vote in the east because of threats and "illegal actions" by separatists who have taken control of more than a dozen towns and cities since early April.

No separatist leaders have been invited to Saturday’s talks, to Russia's annoyance.

Rebel leader seized and freed

On Saturday, Valery Bolotov, the self-proclaimed governor of Ukraine's eastern Luhansk region, was detained at a checkpoint after returning from Russia, where he’d been treated for wounds from an attack Tuesday, border guards spokesman Oleh Slobodyan said. About 200 armed separatists went to the checkpoint to demand his release, freeing him in a firefight with machine guns and grenades.

“We are trying to find out whether there are victims,” Slobodyan said.

In Andriyivka, a village four kilometers (2.4 miles) from Slovyansk, Ukrainian troops exchanged gunfire with pro-Russian forces determined to protect the village, resident Yuri Shevchenko said.

"We will not be pushed out of here,” Shevchenko said. “This is our land, this is our motherland. Our children and grandchildren are living and will continue to live here. Why do they come here, why are they shooting at peaceful people? People can no longer live in Andriyivka."

Slovyansk and the surrounding area has seen some of the worst fighting in recent months as pro-Russian militia continued calling for the Donetsk region’s independence from Ukraine’s central government in Kyiv.

Despite a month-long offensive, the Ukrainian military has failed to wrest back control of the main industrial regions of Donetsk and Luhansk, where rebels have now declared their own independent republics in defiance of Kyiv and the West.

A challenging election

The West sees the election as crucial to defusing the crisis on Europe's eastern flank and preventing the former Soviet republic from disintegrating further after Russia's annexation of Crimea.

But Russia questioned how an election taking place amid fighting could possibly meet democratic norms.

"Can elections held amid the thunder of guns really meet the democratic norms of the electoral process?" Russia's foreign ministry said in a statement, urging Kyiv to immediately halt "punitive action against its own citizens."

It also said the government was using the unity talks "as a cover for aggressive action" and urged Western nations to tell Kyiv to "launch real and not phony work toward national reconciliation."

Pressure from the West

But the United States and its allies applied further pressure on Moscow Friday to allow the election to go ahead.

In a phone call, President Barack Obama and French counterpart Francois Hollande "underscored that Russia will face significant additional costs if it continues its provocative and destabilizing behavior," the White House said in a statement.

Obama has already drafted an executive order for sanctions across key sectors in Russia such as banking, energy, defense and mining, adding to punitive measures already imposed by Washington and Brussels.

In total, 36 million Ukrainians are eligible to vote May 25 in an election expected to deliver victory to billionaire chocolate baron Petro Poroshenko.

The vote was called by the new leaders installed in Kyiv after months of sometimes deadly pro-EU protests that led to the February ouster of Kremlin-backed president Viktor Yanukovych, viewed by many as corrupt and authoritarian.

Some information for this report provided by Reuters, AP and AFP. [Read More]

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Source: VOA News: Economy and Finance