UPDATE 3-East Ukraine referendum raises fears of dismemberment


* Vote organised on ad hoc basis, ballot paper confusion

* West fears slide into civil war

* Rebel cities barricaded with felled trees, tyres

(Adds detail of fighting, quotes, formation of militia, update
on Mariupol voting centres)

By Matt Robinson and Alessandra Prentice

MARIUPOL/SLAVIANSK, Ukraine, May 11 (Reuters) – Rebels
pressed ahead with a referendum on self-rule in east Ukraine on
Sunday and fighting flared anew in a conflict that has raised
fears of civil war and pitched Russia and the West into their
worst crisis since the Cold War.

Clashes broke out around a television tower on the outskirts
of the rebel stronghold of Slaviansk shortly before voters made
their way to polling stations through streets blocked by
barricades of felled trees, tyres and rusty machinery.

“I wanted to come as early as I could,” said Zhenya Denyesh,
a 20-year-old student voting at a three-storey concrete
university building. “We all want to live in our own country.”

Asked what he thought would follow the vote, organised in a
matter of weeks by rebels, he replied: “It will still be war.”

In nearby Mariupol, scene of fierce fighting last week,
officials said there were only eight polling centres for half a
million people. Queues grew to hundreds of metres and at one
centre voting urns were set out on the pavement against a wall.

Western leaders threatened more sanctions against Russia in
the key areas of energy, financial services and engineering if
it continued what they regard as efforts to destabilise Ukraine.

Moscow denies any role in the rebellion or any ambitions to
absorb the mainly Russian-speaking east, an industrial hub, into
the Russian Federation following its annexation of the Black Sea
peninsula of Crimea after a referendum in March.

For a vote on which so much hangs, the referendum in the
regions of Luhansk and Donetsk, which has declared itself a
“People’s Republic”, seemed a decidedly ad hoc affair. Ballot
papers have been printed without security provision, polling
stations were limited in many areas and there was confusion on
quite what people were asked to endorse.

Engineer Sergei, 33, voting in the industrial centre of
Mariupol, said he would answer “Yes” to the question on the
ballot paper, printed in Russian and Ukrainian: “Do you support
the act of state self-rule of the Donetsk People’s Republic?”

“We’re all for the independence of the Donetsk republic,” he
said. “It means leaving behind that fascist, pro-American
government (in Kyiv), which brought no one any good.”

AUTONOMY, INDEPENDENCE, ANNEXATION

But in the same queue of voters, 54-year-old Irina, saw a
“Yes” vote as endorsement of autonomy within Ukraine.

“I want Donetsk to have its own powers, some kind of
autonomy, separate from Kyiv. I’m not against a united Ukraine,
but not under those people we did not choose, who seized power
and are going to ruin the country,” she said.

Voting is due to end in the hastily arranged referendum in
53 locations at 10 p.m. (1900 GMT) and the rebels hope to have
the ballots counted by Monday afternoon, although its outcome
will not be widely recognised internationally or by Kyiv.

The rebellion in the east began after President Viktor
Yanokovich fled to Russia in February under pressure from mass
protests in Kyiv by pro-Western activists angered by his
decision to discard a cooperation accord with the European Union
in favour of closer ties with Moscow.

Some see a “Yes” vote as endorsement of autonomy within
Ukraine, some as a move to independence and others as a nod to
absorption by Russia.

Annexation is favoured by the more prominent rebels, but the
ambiguity may reflect their fears an explicit call for full
“independence” might not have garnered the support they seek and
could leave them in an exposed position towards Kyiv.

Ukrainian leader Oleksander Turchinov has urged eastern
political leaders to join a “Round Table” discussion on
devolution of powers in Ukraine. But he says he would not
negotiate with “terrorists”, a formulation meant to exclude most
of the more prominent rebel leaders.

The Ukrainian Defence Ministry said rebels attacked their
forces guarding a television tower on the outskirts of
Slaviansk. One Ukrainian serviceman was wounded in fighting.

Sergei, a fighter speaking near an outer checkpoint, blamed
Ukrainian forces for the clash. “They are probably trying to
put people off voting, but it won’t work.”

Presidential administration head Sergei Pashinski said
Ukrainian forces had “destroyed” a separatist base and
checkpoints in a broad operation around Slaviansk and nearby
Kramatorsk in retaliation for attacks on their posts.

“This is not a referendum. This is a desultry attempt by
killers and terrorists to cover their activity,” he told a news
conference.

PUTIN’S CALL IGNORED

Sunday’s vote went ahead despite a call by Russian President
Vladimir Putin on Wednesday to postpone it, a move that had
raised hopes for an easing of tension. Western leaders have
accused Putin of destabilising Ukraine, and Washington
criticised as ‘provocative’ a trip he made to Crimea on Friday.

The rebels in the east and the Kremlin say the pro-European
Kyiv government that replaced Yanukovich lacks legitimacy.

Kyiv aims to banish such questions by holding a presidential
election on May 25 but the West says Russia wants to disrupt it
and threatened economic sanctions on Moscow over the weekend.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President
Francois Hollande said on Saturday they would back further
sanctions against Russia if Ukraine’s presidential election
failed to go ahead because of disruption in the east.

Turchinov, who has ruled the referendum illegal and
dismissed the allegations that the Kyiv authorities are
neo-fascists, said on Saturday any move to secession would be “a
step into the abyss” and economic ruin.

The Metinvest company partially owned by Rinat Akhmetov, one
of Ukraine’s wealthiest businessmen with interests in the coal
and steel industry in the east, said it was deploying a
volunteer militia in Mariupol with workers from steel plants.

Last week Ukrainian forces battled rebels for control of the
city and between seven and 20 people were killed before the Kyiv
forces withdrew, but disorders have continued.

Metinvest urged Kyiv to refrain from sending troops on
forays into the city if his militia maintained order.

“This militia will begin patrolling the streets of the city
to protect peaceful civilians from marauders and criminals,” the
company said, adding oportunities for negotiation remained.

(Writing by Ralph Boulton, Editing by Timothy Heritage)