Pro-Russian insurgents yesterday declared the Donetsk region an independent state and asked to join Russia.
The move followed a hastily organised referendum on Sunday in which organisers said about 90% of those who voted in Donetsk and the neighbouring Luhansk region backed sovereignty for the areas that form Ukraine’s industrial heartland.
The statement was issued by Denis Pushilin, one of the insurgents’ leaders.
Later, rebels declared independence for the Luhansk region, after a claim that 96% there had voted for independence.
But with no international election monitors in place it was all but impossible to confirm the claims.
At one polling station, at a school in Donetsk, all voting slips that could be seen in the transparent ballot boxes showed that self-rule had been selected.
There were no immediate signs of intimidation by pro-Russian forces, and insurgents near the polls were not wearing their usual balaclavas, but most opponents of sovereignty appeared to have stayed away.
Earlier, the Kremlin suggested it had no intention of immediately annexing the two regions.
The referendum has been dismissed as a sham by Ukraine and the west, who accuse Moscow of fomenting weeks of unrest in eastern Ukraine in a possible attempt to grab more land after annexing Crimea in March.
Ukraine’s acting president, Oleksandr Turchynov, said: “The farce, which terrorists call the referendum, will have no legal consequences except the criminal responsibility for its organisers.”
In Moscow, President Vladimir Putin’s office urged the Ukrainian government to engage in talks with representatives of eastern Ukraine that could be brokered by the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe.
The cautious stance appears to reflect Mr Putin’s hope of negotiating a solution to what has become the worst crisis between Russia and the west since the Cold War.
The Russian government voiced its hope that “the practical implementation of the referendum results will take place in a civilised way”.
EU foreign ministers met in Brussels yesterday for talks on the crisis.
The UK foreign secretary, William Hague, warned Russia it must allow planned elections in Ukraine to go ahead unimpeded if it wanted to avoid damaging EU economic sanctions.
He dismissed the referendums in eastern Ukraine, saying they had no credibility or international acceptance. “I think that the votes in the Eurovision Song Contest are more credible and carry greater weight.”
The foreign ministers widened existing EU travel bans and asset freezes to a further 13 individuals, as well as two firms based in Crimea.
EU governments will now wait to see if Russia respects the Ukrainian presidential election – set by the government in Kiev for May 25 – before deciding whether to move to more far-reaching economic sanctions.