KIEV/KARLOVKA Ukraine (Reuters) - Armed pro-Russian separatists and a Ukrainian militia group clashed in the east of Ukraine on Friday, leaving at least two dead and heightening tension before a presidential election called to draw a line under six months of bloody upheaval.
Kiev's pro-Western leaders hope Sunday's poll will stabilise 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.