DONETSK Ukraine (Reuters) - Pro-Russian separatists voted unanimously on Thursday in favour of holding a referendum on independence, defying calls by Russian President Vladimir Putin to postpone the vote to open the way for talks with the Kiev authorities.
Many in Ukraine's industrial east said Sunday's referendum was the only way to prevent war, adding that without it they would lose the faith of a population fired up over what the rebels, and Moscow, call the "fascist" government in Kiev.
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