Ukrainian Communist Party leader Petro Symonenko speaking to Reuters in Kyiv today in reaction to his party failing to win any seats in the Ukrainian national legislative election for the first time since the fall of the Soviet Union:
"I insist one more time that this election cannot be deemed either democratic or legitimate. This election will further deepen the split in Ukraine. This election will not stop the war in Ukraine. Representatives of the war party have come to power big time."
"Indeed we are a party that does not stop its activities depending on whether we have seats [in the parliament] or not. We have our representatives in local councils and we will promote [our views] through local councils. We will offer the programs we consider important for the society to know through our own media channels."
Election monitors from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) called Ukraine's parliamentary elections ''free and fair'' at a news conference in Kyiv today. They said the election offered voters ''real choice'' and that voting was transparent -- despite the fact that the poll was not held in separatist-held eastern Ukraine or in Crimea, which was annexed in an internationally unrecognized move by Russia. This is video from Reuters:
Popular Russian singer and Duma lawmaker Iosif Kobzon (right) sings with separatist leader in eastern Ukraine Aleksandr Zakharchenko in Donetsk, in eastern Ukraine. Kobzon appeared in the rebel stronghold despite a ban by Ukrainian authorities on his entry to Ukraine.