Rebels in Donetsk and Lugansk pick leaders of 'republics'

Two pro-Russian separatists are likely to be confirmed as leaders in a vote in Ukraine, one a rebel chief who highlights his status as a miner's son and the other a devotee of Vladimir Lenin.

Yesterday's elections in the self-declared Donetsk people's republic and Lugansk people's republic, based in the two main rebel-held cities, were billed as bringing a degree of legitimacy to the regimes that control them.

Alexander Zakharchenko, 38, who commands rebels fighting Ukrainian government forces in the mining and industrial town of Donetsk, faces no real opposition in the vote that will leave him as the first president of the unrecognised Donetsk republic.

His ambition, he said "is to build a new state that will become legitimate after elections and get back the territories in the east [of Ukraine] that are now under control of the Ukrainians".

The businessman-turned-warlord says he sold his business to finance the rebels and took part in the storming of the regional administration building in Donetsk on April 16.

The town then declared its independence, as did nearby Lugansk, triggering a conflict that has now killed more than 4,035 people, according to UN figures.

Despite mounting evidence of heavy Russian involvement in the rebellion, including claims by Ukraine of fighting by Russian troops, Zakharchenko emphasises his local roots.