-- Self-appointed leaders of the Ukrainian separatist region of Donetsk appealed to Russia to consider absorbing it to "restore historic justice" and to send in troops.
-- Pro-Russian separatists in the eastern Ukrainian region of Luhansk said they would not allow voting for the May 25 presidential election to be conducted.
-- Diplomats say the European Union agreed to impose sanctions against 13 additional individuals and two companies, believed to be the first time the EU has targeted companies over the Ukraine crisis.
-- Ukrainian President Oleksandr Turchynov called the votes a "sham" and the United States said they were illegal and merely "an attempt to create further division and disorder in the country."
-- RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service said one of its affiliate radio stations in Donetsk was taken off the air by gunmen and replaced by a pro-Russian broadcaster.
-- The Kremlin said Ukrainian officials in Kyiv should hold talks with pro-Russian separatists on the results of the self-rule referendums, adding that it respected the "expression of the people's will."
RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service was in the eastern city of Luhansk on May 11, where correspondents asked voters if they supported "self-rule." One voter told RFE/RL he didn't want to see the region break away from Ukraine "yet" but hoped for the "federalization" of the country.
Armed pro-Russian activists stands guard near ballot boxes in Donetsk.
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In Maruipol, the scene of deadly clashes in the last week, officials said only eight polling places had been set up for a city with a population of some 500,000 people.
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This from our Central Newsroom:
Fighting was reported in the separatist stronghold of Slovyansk early on May 11 as insurgents attacked a television tower being guarded by Ukrainian soldiers. Ukraine said one soldier was injured in the attack.
Serhiy Pashinskyy, head of Ukraine's acting presidential administration, said Ukrainian security forces had "destroyed" a separatist base and some checkpoints outside Slovyansk and the nearby city of Kramatorsk in response to the attack on the TV tower.
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Interfax quotes Ukrainian presidential candidate and former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko as calling the referendums unlawful, pointing out that the premises for holding the referendums had been illegally seized and ballots filled out in advance.
"A truck was stopped near Slovyansk which contained 100,000 ballots ticked in favor of the separation of the Donetsk region from Ukraine," she said. "I believe this is a tragedy that was imposed on us and we must definitely stop it."
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To the sound of inspirational music, voters in Donetsk tell RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service that they are "sick and tired" of the government in Kyiv and want better living conditions for the region. And one man explains why he has multiple ballots:
