SUPPORTERS of a federalised Ukraine went ahead with planned referendums in Donetsk and Lugansk regions today in spite of a request by Russian President Vladimir Putin to postpone them.

Roman Lyagin, who heads the central election commission of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic, said: “The turnout is not just high, it’s off the charts.

“People are queuing up at polling stations and election commissions are working at full capacity.”

Only eight polling stations operated in Mariupol after Friday’s deadly clashes while the opening of the polls in Slavyansk was met with sounds of shooting and artillery fire on the outskirts of the city.

Some 1,471 polling stations in Lugansk and around 1,500 in Donetsk opened their doors. Security was tightened around them.

“We sent additional self-defence units to polling stations and also to the most important social institutions,” said Lugansk self-defence leader Aleksey Chmilenko.

“So far everything is normal. There are no incidents.”

Donetsk region people’s governor Pavel Gubarev forecast that Donetsk and Lugansk would emerge as new legal entities as a result of the referendums.

“The referendum for us is about creating a new state paradigm,” he said.

The coup-installed government’s foreign ministry in Kiev said that the results of the referendums wouldn’t affect the country’s territorial integrity and form of government.

“Organisers of this criminal farce have consciously violated the Ukrainian constitution and laws and have neglected calls coming from the authorities in Ukraine and from the international community,” it said.

In four districts of Lugansk — Belokurakinsky, Svatovsky, Troitsky and Melovsky —Ukrainian National Guard armoured personnel carriers blocked voters’ access to polling stations.