Ukrainians vote today in an election that is likely to install a pro-Western parliament and strengthen President Petro Poroshenko's mandate to end separatist conflict in the east, but may fuel tension with Russia.
Voting started in the first parliamentary election since street protests in the capital last winter forced Moscow-backed leader Viktor Yanukovych to flee and ushered in a pro-Europe leadership under Mr Poroshenko.
A loose political grouping that backs Mr Poroshenko is expected to become the leading force in the 450-seat assembly, giving him a mandate to pursue a peace plan for the east and carry out deep reforms sought by Ukraine's European Union partners.
Mr Poroshenko said in a televised address yesterday he wanted a majority to emerge that would see through laws to support a pro-Europe agenda and break with the Soviet past.
"Without such a majority in parliament, the President's programme ... will simply remain on paper," he said.
With diminished pro-Russian influence and following a strong European integration agenda, it will be one of the most radical parliaments since Ukraine gained independence in 1991.
The emergence of a strong force committed to a united Ukraine could place new strains on ties with Russia that the Kiev leadership blames for backing rebels in a conflict that has killed more than 3,700 people and destroyed the economy.
There were no immediate reports of heavy clashes during the night in the east, where a fragile ceasefire has been in force since 5 September.
A gas pricing row with Russia, which has the potential to disrupt supplies to European Union countries via Ukraine, also rumbles on unresolved despite a meeting between Mr Poroshenko and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Mr Poroshenko called the snap election with the aim of clearing out Yanukovych loyalists and securing further legitimacy for Kiev's pro-Western direction after the "Euromaidan" protests.
The protests were broadly supported by the West but denounced by Russia as a coup after Yanukovych's fall. A month later, Russia annexed Crimea and separatist rebellions,supported by Russia, erupted in the industrialised east.
The ensuing crisis, in which the United States and its Western allies have imposed sanctions, is the worst between Russia and the West since the end of the Cold War.
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