Luhansk Separatist Leader Shot Amid Ukraine Turmoil.

A separatist leader in eastern Ukraine has been injured in a
suspected assassination attempt, his press office said Tuesday, amid continuing turmoil in the wake of a controversial weekend referendum on independence.

A car carrying the self-declared "Luhansk people's governor" Valeriy Bolotov was fired on Tuesday in the Luhansk region, the press office said.

Bolotov suffered a gunshot injury but it was described as "light" and not life threatening. It is not known who was behind the shooting.

The reported attack comes amid simmering tensions in Donetsk and Luhansk regions, where pro-Russian separatists staged a referendum Sunday asking residents whether they should declare independence from Ukraine.

German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, in Kiev on Tuesday, warned that the situation in eastern Ukraine is "still dangerous and threatening," and backed efforts by Ukraine's interim government to start a national dialogue.

Steinmeier said the presidential elections scheduled for May 25 would play a "decisive role" in restoring calm to Ukraine and urged steps to disarm the illegal separatist groups who have seized key buildings in the east.

His visit is the latest in a series by foreign diplomats seeking a peaceful resolution to what has become the worst East-West crisis since the end of the Cold War.

Their efforts have done little so far to prevent pro-Russian militants from tightening their grip on Ukraine's east and south

Nearly 90% of voters in the Donetsk area favored secession, the head of the central election commission for the self-declared Donetsk People's Republic said Tuesday. He said just over 10% voted against the move.

Separatist leader Denis Pushilin said Monday that the Donetsk region was not only independent, but also would ask to join Russia. There was no immediate response from Ukraine's government or the European Union.

Pushilin's announcement was reminiscent of separatists' moves in the Black Sea peninsula of Crimea, which Russia annexed after Crimeans voted to secede from Ukraine and join Russia in a March 16 referendum.

Acting Ukrainian President Oleksandr Turchynov said Monday of the referendum: "That farce the terrorists call a referendum is nothing else but a propagandist cover for killings, kidnapping, violence and other grave crimes."

EU, Canada impose sanctions

Sunday's referendum was also widely condemned by the international community.

In its wake, Western leaders imposed fresh sanctions in the hopes of pressuring Russia into reining in the pro-Russian militants.

The European Union sanctioned 13 people Monday over the Ukraine crisis, bringing the total number subject to EU visa bans and asset freezes to 61, an EU diplomat said.

Those targeted in the latest round, whose names were only released Tuesday, include Vyacheslav Ponomaryov, the self-declared Mayor of Slovyansk, a rebel stronghold in the Donetsk region, and Vladimir Shamanov, commander of the Russian airborne troops.

Meanwhile, Canada has imposed sanctions on 12 additional people, six Russians and six Ukrainians, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper said in a statement.

Canada's expanded sanctions list includes Russian military chief Valery Gerasimov; Russian State Duma vice-speakers Sergei Neverov and Lyudmila Shevtsova; and Igor Girkin, known as "Strelok," who is accused of being a Russian saboteur and militant leader in eastern Ukraine.

Also named by Canada are Crimean politicians and five representatives of the self-proclaimed republics and militias in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions.

Canada's government had previously approved sanctions against nine Russian politicians and businessmen, two Russian credit organizations and 16 Russian companies.

Russia, which said it respected the will of the people of Luhansk and Donetsk in Sunday's vote, denies having direct influence over the separatist groups. They went ahead with the referendum despite a call from Russian President Vladimir Putin to delay it.

Source:CNN