16:36
25.5.2014
16:37
25.5.2014
At a bustling polling station in Kyiv's Pecherskiy District, voters queued to cast their ballots in the first Ukrainian presidential election since the ouster of Viktor Yanukovych. (RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service)
16:40
25.5.2014
16:41
25.5.2014
16:47
25.5.2014
16:51
25.5.2014
Some Crimean Tatars who crossed the border from Russian-annexed Crimea into Ukraine to vote in the country's presidential election spoke to RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service and Reuters at a polling station in Kherson Oblast.
Unidentified Crimean Tatar woman at the border crossing:
"It is hard, psychologically, to be under occupation. We have been deprived of everything, of all our rights, the most important of them is our right to vote. We have been deprived of the motherland. We woke up in the morning, and it wasn't there."
Crimean Tatar representative Zahir Zmygliayev:
"Crimean Tatars were being summoned to police stations to be handed warnings against taking illegal actions related to the Ukrainian presidential election."
Crimean Tatar woman Niyara Abdulayeva:
"It turned out that we have been breathing freely for the last 23 years [in Ukraine], compared to what we can feel under Russia's rule now. That's why we are happy [about the changes in Ukraine] -- everything will be alright with Ukraine. We should make our contribution. I want Ukraine to flourish, and it will happen."
Crimean Tatar woman Dilyara Bariyeva:
"I don't want [Russian President Vladimir] Putin's fascist regime. They're pressuring us so much we can't breathe freely [in Crimea]. This is why I came here -- to vote for Ukraine, to vote for my people. My people should live on their native land. Crimea is the land of our ancestors. We should live in Crimea and be part of Ukraine."
Crimean Tatar community leader in Kherson Oblast, Ukraine, Asan Aliyev:
"Of course, it makes me happy that there are patriotic people who understand how much the election of a legitimate Ukrainian president means. And I'm glad that, despite the high costs, both financial and emotional, the left their houses and came here."
Unidentified Crimean Tatar woman at the border crossing:
"It is hard, psychologically, to be under occupation. We have been deprived of everything, of all our rights, the most important of them is our right to vote. We have been deprived of the motherland. We woke up in the morning, and it wasn't there."
Crimean Tatar representative Zahir Zmygliayev:
"Crimean Tatars were being summoned to police stations to be handed warnings against taking illegal actions related to the Ukrainian presidential election."
Crimean Tatar woman Niyara Abdulayeva:
"It turned out that we have been breathing freely for the last 23 years [in Ukraine], compared to what we can feel under Russia's rule now. That's why we are happy [about the changes in Ukraine] -- everything will be alright with Ukraine. We should make our contribution. I want Ukraine to flourish, and it will happen."
Crimean Tatar woman Dilyara Bariyeva:
"I don't want [Russian President Vladimir] Putin's fascist regime. They're pressuring us so much we can't breathe freely [in Crimea]. This is why I came here -- to vote for Ukraine, to vote for my people. My people should live on their native land. Crimea is the land of our ancestors. We should live in Crimea and be part of Ukraine."
Crimean Tatar community leader in Kherson Oblast, Ukraine, Asan Aliyev:
"Of course, it makes me happy that there are patriotic people who understand how much the election of a legitimate Ukrainian president means. And I'm glad that, despite the high costs, both financial and emotional, the left their houses and came here."
16:52
25.5.2014
16:55
25.5.2014
More on SBU claims that it foiled an attempt by hackers to rig election results. This from "The Kyiv Post":
Read it all here.
A group of hackers has been arrested in Kyiv with specialized equipment intended to rig the results of the Ukraine’s presidential election, according to Victor Yagun, deputy head of the Security Service of Ukraine, known as the SBU.
Yagun alluded to a number of cyber attacks against the Central Election Commission, particularly targeting the election analytics system that aggregates voter data. Yagun said that at least one detainee was cooperating with the authorities.
It is still not confirmed that the suspects in custody were behind the May 22 hacking of the CEC server – just three days before early presidential and local elections – which the SBU earlier reported had the elements of an inside job.
“The attack came from the Internet, but somebody partially switched off the defense system from the inside,” one government security source told the Kyiv Post on the condition of anonymity because of sensitivity of the issue.
Yagun alluded to a number of cyber attacks against the Central Election Commission, particularly targeting the election analytics system that aggregates voter data. Yagun said that at least one detainee was cooperating with the authorities.
It is still not confirmed that the suspects in custody were behind the May 22 hacking of the CEC server – just three days before early presidential and local elections – which the SBU earlier reported had the elements of an inside job.
“The attack came from the Internet, but somebody partially switched off the defense system from the inside,” one government security source told the Kyiv Post on the condition of anonymity because of sensitivity of the issue.
Read it all here.
16:57
25.5.2014
More on the "Poroshenko won" meme. DOnetsk-based blogger Oleksiy Matsuka says he took 55.9 percent. We'll know soon enough...