A woman casts her vote at a polling station in Donetsk, Ukraine, May 11, 2014. Local residents in Ukraine's eastern Donetsk and Lugansk regions went to the polls on Sunday in referendums on whether they want to remain part of Ukraine. (Xinhua/Lu Jinbo)

Local residents in Ukraine's eastern Donetsk and Lugansk regions went to the polls on Sunday in referendums aimed at seeking independence from the country.

People were asked on the ballot: "Do you support the act of state-rule of the Donestk (Lugansk) People's Republic?"

Some 2,900 polling stations will remain open from 8:00 a.m. local time (0500 GMT) to 10:00 p.m. (1900 GMT) in the two self-proclaimed republics.

About 3 million ballots have been distributed in towns and cities in the two regions with a total population of 6.6 million. Organizers said no minimum turnout is required for the result.

If the majority of local population votes to secede from Ukraine, organizers intend to hold a second round on May 18, which will ask voters whether they want to join Russia.

Ukrainian authorities and some Western countries denounced the controversial referendums as "illegal."

"The organizers of this criminal farce have violated the constitution and Ukrainian law," the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

The vote "will have no legal consequences for the territorial integrity of Ukraine," the statement said.

Sergiy Pashinskiy, chief of staff for the country's interim presidency, also called the referendum "a pitiful attempt of the terrorists and murderers to use people of the Donetsk and Lugansk regions to cover up their crimes."

The situation remained calm in most of the two regions as voting got under way, but sporadic clashes were reported in some cities and towns.

According to the Ukrainian Defense Ministry, an army soldier was wounded in a mortar shelling when activists exchanged fire with government troops near a TV tower on the outskirts of the town of Slaviansk.

The clash broke out shortly before voters made their way to polling stations through streets blocked by barricades of felled trees, tyres and rusty machinery.

Donetsk and Lugansk regions became an epicenter of the eastern protests in mid-April, when activists waving Russian flags seized government buildings, declared separatist republics and announced plans to hold a referendum on seceding from Ukraine.

The referendums were held after Crimea joined Russia on March 18 following an independence referendum in the southern Ukraine peninsula, which was not recognized by the West.

On Wednesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin asked the protesters in Donetsk and Lugansk to postpone their referendums and seek dialogue with Ukrainian authorities, which was, however, ignored by the protesters.

Voters queue up as east Ukraine goes to the polls

Residents in eastern Ukraine formed long queues at polling stations yesterday to cast their votes in independence referendums, defying the central government which called the ballots illegal and funded by neighboring Russia.

The votes seek approval for declaring sovereign people's republics in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, where pro-Russians have seized government buildings and clashed with police and Ukrainian troops over the past month.

Ukraine's interim president warned that independence for eastern regions would destroy the country's economy. "This is a step into the abyss for the regions," Oleksandr Turchynov said on the presidential website on Saturday.

But the head of the referendum organizers in Donetsk said approval of the question wouldn't immediately lead to attempts to split off from the country.

He characterized the voting as an effort to show the central government that the largely Russian-speaking east has legitimate concerns.

"We want only to state our right to self-determination," election commission head Roman Lyagin said.

"After the announcement of the results, absolutely nothing will change in the status of the Donetsk region. We won't stop being part of Ukraine. We won't become part of Russia. We are just saying to the world that we want changes, we want to be heard."

However, he said that the ultimate status of the region would be discussed later, and includes the possibility of secession or the seeking of annexation by Russia.

Polling stations were scheduled to close at 1900 GMT and results were not expected to be announced until this afternoon.

There were reports of sporadic clashes, but the situation remained calm in most of the sprawling regions with a population of 6.5 million and referendum organizers said they expected a high turnout.

Insurgents in the city of Slovyansk, which has seen some of the most violent clashes between pro-Russian militants and government forces in recent weeks, exchanged fire with Ukrainian troops on the outskirts of the city overnight.

The Ukrainian Defense Ministry said yesterday an army soldier was wounded in a mortar shelling.

The port city of Mariupol on the Sea of Azov also remained on edge after last Friday's clashes, in which at least seven died. Long lines of voters were seen in the city's streets.

Option for autonomy

Election organizers said more than 30 percent of voters cast ballots in the first three hours of voting, but with no international oversight mission in attendance, confirming such claims is likely to be all but impossible.

At one polling station in a school in Donetsk, the voting slips that could be seen in the clear ballot boxes showed the option for autonomy selected.

Many of those who voted said they hoped the ballot would help stabilize the situation.

The haphazard nature of the referendums was in full display at Spartak, a leafy village on the northern fringes of Donetsk.

Villagers were unable to vote for about three hours after polls opened as election officials had failed to bring a ballot box and an organizer had to make one from cardboard boxes.

Most present said they were voting in favor of autonomy and against the interim government.