Two people were killed and one policeman injured in clashes overnight between rival activists in the eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkov, officials said Saturday, according to dpa. In total, some 30 pro-Ukrainian and pro-Russian activists were arrested, Interior Minister Arsen Avakov said. The southern, Moscow-leaning Crimea region is due to hold a referendum on Sunday on whether to break away from Ukraine and join Russia, with observers fearing worsening violence on the peninsula ahead of the vote. There fears the upheaval in Crimea, where Russia has tightened its military and political grip since the ouster of Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych last month, could spread to eastern Ukraine. One man was killed and 26 others injured on Thursday in clashes in Donetsk, the home and power base of the deposed president. Hopes for a diplomatic solution to the crisis faded Friday after six-hour talks between US Secretary of State John Kerry and his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov ended with "no common vision," as Lavrov put it. Western leaders have called the Crimean referendum illegitimate, and the United States and the European Union have threatened immediate sanctions against Russia if the vote goes ahead.
