Pro-Russia activists refuse to drop Donetsk referendum

Pro-Russian activists in eastern Ukraine have no intention to give up their plans to hold a May 11 referendum on the region's independence, a media report said Thursday.

"We will consider the issue of postponing the referendum, but now it is difficult to talk about the possibility of laying down arms and holding negotiations, as too many people have died," said Myroslav Rudenko, co-chairman of the government of the self-proclaimed Donetsk Republic.

Preparations for the vote in Donetsk city are under way, with activists distributing referendum ballots to everyone interested, Xinhua reported.

The referendum will ask people in eastern Ukraine whether their region of Donetsk should become a sovereign republic, independent from the government in Kiev.

If the referendum goes ahead, it could see the region move to join Russia as happened in Crimea in mid-March, when the peninsula and its city of Sevastopol became Russian regions following a vote recognised by Moscow.

Russian President Vladimir Putin Wednesday asked the pro-Russian protestors in eastern Ukraine to postpone their referendum.