Reuters, Ukraine :
Candidates in Ukraine’s presidential election stayed out of the public eye on Saturday, observing a ban on campaigning on the eve of a vote that Kiev hopes can help end a bitter confrontation with Russia.
On Friday, armed pro-Russian separatists and a Ukrainian militia group clashed in the east of Ukraine, leaving at least two dead. An attack on Ukrainian troops a day earlier killed 17 soldiers, officials have said.
Kiev’s pro-Western leaders hope Sunday’s poll will stabilize the former Soviet republic after street protests toppled Moscow-backed president Viktor Yanukovich and pro-Russian separatists responded by seizing Crimea and parts of eastern Ukraine.
European leaders will consider steps against Russia on Tuesday if they decide Moscow has hampered the election, ranging from restrictions on luxury goods imports to an oil and gas ban, although some are wary due to close trade ties.
The Ukrainian authorities have promised a suspension of anti-separatist operations on the day of the election, billed as the most important in 23 years of independence from Moscow, but Friday’s clash suggested violence may mar the event.
A Reuters correspondent saw two dead bodies after the three- hour firefight in the morning between Ukrainian self-defence fighters and separatists manning a checkpoint in countryside west of the big industrial city of Donetsk.
The pro-Kiev fighters issued a Facebook statement saying four of their men were killed and nine wounded. Allied to billionaire Igor Kolomoisky, they are at the forefront of Kiev’s efforts to prevent the country splitting.
“We are determined that honest and transparent elections will take place,” interim Prime Minister Arseny Yatseniuk declared in talks with two European Union foreign ministers as the bloc’s foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton voiced support for Kiev and its election.
