Pro-Russian insurgents in Ukraine's Donetsk region declared independence May 12 and asked to join Russia — a day after holding a hastily arranged vote on separatism that Ukraine's interim government and the West have declared a sham. Organizers said about 90 percent of those who cast ballots May 11 in Donetsk and the neighboring Luhansk region backed sovereignty for the sprawling areas that lie along Russia's border and form Ukraine's industrial heartland.
Russia's War Against Ukraine
Associated Press: Insurgents in eastern Ukraine declare independence
A pro-Russian insurgent gives his AK automatic gun to a boy for a photo on top of an old Soviet tank in Luhansk on May 11.
