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Election organizers have cast the vote as a decisive development in the break from Ukrainian rule by the mainly Russian-speaking regions of Donetsk and Luhansk. Around half the territory of those areas is held by separatist forces.

Russia supports the elections, but the U.N., EU and the United States say it violates Ukraine’s constitution and the terms of the cease-fire. The truce deal, which has been signed by rebel leaders, Ukrainian and Russian officials, envisions local elections being held across the whole of the east, but under Ukrainian law.

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko on Sunday dismissed the vote as “pseudo-elections.”

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For decades, the cathedral-sized workshops of the DonetskGorMash factory have assembled heavy-duty mining equipment for customers as far afield as Kazakhstan.

Today, the huge components for machinery in one workshop have been shunted aside and its vast gantries used to play a different role.

In their place, lines of Soviet-designed fighting vehicles await repairs from a small army of mechanics before being sent back to the front lines on the outskirts of Donetsk.

“All of this was captured from the Ukrainian army,” boasted a factory official as he showed The Sunday Telegraph a glimpse of the impressive logistical operation behind the rebel war effort.

Many of these vehicles will head straight into battle at Donetsk airport, where pro-Russian separatists are still fighting for control, despite a ceasefire agreement signed on September 5. It is one of the final prizes in their attempt to carve out an independent state, but in the meantime, they are cementing their grip on power in other ways.