Pro-Russian activists in Donetsk prepare referendum for May 11

 A central election committee is being set up in Donetsk city to organize the plebiscite.

Iryna Popova, a member of the regional council, the local legislature
recognized by the Ukrainian government, told Interfax by phone that, as
far as she knew, the “Donetsk People’s Republic” had allotted a
building near the regional administration headquarters to house the
commission. She said appointments were currently being made for the
commission.

Popova said there was “a titanic amount of work” in store for the
commission – she said the region’s population of 4.5 million included
about 3.5 million registered voters.

Popova said she did not know which part of the “Donetsk resistance”
took control of the Donetsk City Council’s building recently. “All I
know that they are people who live in Donetsk and its region and support
the Donetsk Republic. It has the support of many of the Donetsk
organizations,” she said.