Poroshenko Vows Not to Let E. Ukraine Turn into Somalia as Army Attacks to Retake Airport

Billionaire oligarch Petro Poroshenko said Monday he would not let rebel-held east Ukraine become another Somalia as he prepared to take over the presidency with a clear signal from Moscow that it is ready to work with his government.

Poroshenko has moved swiftly to stamp his authority as Ukraine's new leader after claiming victory in Sunday's presidential election, with partial results showing he trounced his rivals in the first round.

He said Ukraine would press on with an offensive to crush the pro-Russian separatists waging an insurgency in the eastern industrial belt, despite Moscow warning it would be a "colossal mistake".

"There are no talks with terrorists," the pro-Western tycoon and veteran politician told reporters.

"Their goal is to turn Donbass (east Ukraine) into Somalia. I will not let anyone do this to our state and I hope that Russia will support my approach."

According to latest results, Poroshenko won close to 54 percent in Sunday's vote, seen as the most important in Ukraine's post-Soviet history as it fights to stay united and avert economic collapse.

But the insurgency, which has already cost at least 150 lives, thwarted polling in much of the east and rebels have defiantly refused to recognize the vote.

In a related matter, international observers said on Monday that Ukraine's presidential election "largely upheld democratic commitments" and provided the new leader with the legitimacy needed to tackle the country's separatist insurgency.

"The electoral and security authorities of Ukraine should be commended for their efforts -– under extraordinary circumstances –- to facilitate an election that largely upheld democratic commitments," the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe's (OSCE) short-term mission coordinator Joao Soares said.

Sunday's vote "provides the new president of Ukraine with the legitimacy to establish immediately an inclusive dialogue with all citizens in the eastern regions, to restore their trust and confidence, and to decentralise state power in order to preserve the unity of the country by respecting the diversity of Ukrainian society," said Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) mission head Andreas Gross.

Sunday's election was not held in parts of the separatist east where pro-Russian insurgents control a dozen towns and cities and where about 15 percent of the electorate lives.

The observers' mission acknowledged the high turnout -- put at more than 60 percent by the central election commission in regions under the government's control -- despite repeated attempts by militants to intimidate voters and organizers.

"Forced evictions and closures of district election commissions by armed groups, abductions, death threats, forced entry into private homes and the seizure of equipment and election materials were attempts to prevent the election and to deny citizens their right to vote," the OSCE and PACE said in a joint report, commissioned by the Council of Europe and the NATO Parliamentary Assembly (NATO PA).

The teams had about 1,000 observers stationed throughout all regions of Ukraine except for Crimea, where no presidential voting took place.

The report concluded that the election and its campaign were conducted in a democratic spirit without abuse by the acting authorities, as in previous votes.

But it noted that media freedoms were severely undermined in regions of eastern Ukraine, where reporters often faced harassment and threats.

"Before Sunday, everyone agreed that this was going to be an important, if difficult, election, but few believed it would be successful," said NATO PA delegation chief Karl Lamers.

"Our assessment is clear: the Ukrainian authorities and the Ukrainian people have made this election a success."

Russia had refused to recognize the legitimacy of Ukraine's interim pro-Western leaders and President Vladimir Putin had on Friday only promised to "respect" the outcome of the presidential vote.

On Monday Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said the Kremlin, which has been threatened with a new round of Western sanctions if it meddled further in Ukraine after its seizure of Crimea in March, was willing to work with the new leaders.

"We are ready for pragmatic dialogue, on an equal footing, based on respect for all agreements, in particular in the commercial, economic and gas spheres," Lavrov said in the Kremlin's first reaction.

"As the president (Vladimir Putin) has said, we respect the result of the choice of the Ukrainian people."

But he said Kiev's plans to pursue operations against the insurgents who have declared independent states in two regions in the east would be a "colossal mistake", and called on the new government should talk to the rebels.

In a sharp reminder of daunting task ahead to bring the east back under Kiev's authority, gunmen early Monday seized control of the airport in the main eastern city of Donetsk and forced it to close.

Poroshenko, a 48-year-old former cabinet minister, had said Sunday he would work immediately to end the insurgency to fix a recession-hit near bankrupt economy.

"My first decisive step will be aimed at ending the war, ending chaos, and bringing peace to a united and free Ukraine," he said.

The latest results put Poroshenko far ahead of his nearest rival, the divisive former prime minister and Orange Revolution leader Yulia Tymoshenko with 13 percent.

It also means he should avoid the need for a June 15 runoff that would have extended political uncertainty and put more pressure on East-West relations that are already at a post-Cold War low.

Final results are expected later Monday.

However, while turnout was strong across the capital Kiev and the more pro-European west on Sunday, voting was largely blocked in two eastern regions that make up 15 percent of the electorate -- raising concerns about the legitimacy of Poroshenko's mandate.

"We consider that the winner of the election is president of west Ukraine -- he is a half president," said pro-Russian presidential candidate Oleh Tsarov.

The election commission said voting had been suspended by militants in 24 of Ukraine's 213 constituencies.

But U.S. President Barack Obama praised "courageous Ukrainians" for voting in the face of the threat posed by militants who have seized about a dozen cities and towns in a seven-week rebellion.

The ballot was called after Kremlin-allied president Viktor Yanukovych -- his corruption-stained regime long a source of discontent -- was ousted in February in the bloody climax of months of protests sparked by his rejection of a historic EU pact.

Putin responded by seizing Crimea and threatening to invade the rest of Ukraine to "protect" the country's ethnic Russian community, raising the prospect of all out war on Europe's doorstep.

But in the face of more sanctions threats from the West, Russia said last week it had started withdrawing from Ukraine's border around 40,000 soldiers whose presence had raised deep Western suspicions and prompted NATO to send additional fighters to former Soviet satellite states.

"Even Putin will find it difficult to label such a clear result illegitimate," said Berenberg Bank economist Holger Schmieding.

In addition to the political challenges ahead, Poroshenko will have to set in motion painful austerity measures that world lenders are demanding in return for $27 billion (20 billion euros) in aid to prevent bankruptcy.

The country is already in recession, and the International Monetary Fund has warned that the economy is likely to shrink five percent this year.

On the ground, Ukraine's army scrambled fighter jets and combat helicopters to strike rebel gunmen who seized control of the main airport in the eastern city of Donetsk on Monday, triggering heavy gunbattles.

Thick black smoke was seen rising from the airport complex as the sound of explosions and heavy machinegun fire rang out, Agence France Presse correspondents at the scene said.

Scores of gunmen had stormed the airport early Monday in an apparent show of defiance after the election, which was rejected as illegitimate by the rebels who thwarted polling in large parts of the east under their control.

"After the expiry at 1:00 pm (1000 GMT) of an ultimatum (for the insurgents to leave) we launched an anti-terror operation," military spokesman Oleksiy Dmytrashyvskiy told Agence France Presse.

Another spokesman, Vladyslav Seleznyov, said on Facebook that Ukrainian forces were backed by Mi-8 helicopters filled with paratroopers, and fighter jets.

"First, SU-25 fighters fired a warning shot aimed at forcing the terrorists to fulfill our demands. Some of the gunmen began to panic," he said. "Then a MiG-29 delivered an air strike near areas where the terrorists had gathered."

All flights were halted out of the airport from early morning after the insurgents raided the strategic transport hub, which underwent a massive refurbishment for the 2012 European football championship.

It had been evacuated and sealed off after gunmen claiming to be from the self-declared "Donetsk People's Republic" showed up overnight demanding that Ukrainian troops guarding the perimeter be withdrawn.

The last scheduled plane allowed to leave was the 7:00 am (0400 GMT) flight to Kiev. 

"We do not know when we will be up working again," airport spokesman Dmytro Kosinov said.   

An AFP journalist saw three military trucks with scores of well-armed men in camouflage, some wearing pro-Russian ribbons and others with Cossack hats and beards, driving towards the airport through a traffic police checkpoint a few hundred meters from the main terminal.

"It was quiet and then suddenly two explosions and then another two -- they seemed like they had been fired from a plane," said Maksim Bakhal, a worker at a cemetery on the edge of the airport.

"Then three helicopters flew over and they were shooting at them with machine guns," he said. "Then there was shooting from all sides -- with heavier weapons and cannons."

Separatists in the heavily-Russified eastern rust belt of the ex-Soviet nation launched an insurgency against Kiev's rule in early April and have seized about a dozen cities and towns in the Donetsk and Lugansk regions neighboring Russia.

Rebels on Sunday blocked voting across most of Donetsk and Lugansk, two regions that together make up around 15 percent of the national electorate.

Several pro-Russian figures and rebel commanders said they did not recognize Poroshenko's legitimacy and would continue their independence fight.

"We consider that the winner of the election is president of west Ukraine -- he is a half president," said Oleh Tsarov, a former member of the Regions Party of toppled pro-Russian president Viktor Yanukovych.

"Let the people who elected him recognize him but for us here he won't be our president," said pro-Russian shopkeeper Tetyana Krasikova.

"In the east his election won't change anything," she said. "The people have been too humiliated, too many have died to go back to the way things were."