Donbass general elections

Kiev authorities have announced large-caliber artillery is to be drawn away from the country's Donbass region starting after December 26, Friday.

This will serve the purpose of setting up a 30-km safety zone, according to Russian news agency TASS, which cites the Ukrainian Defense Ministry's press office.

Bulgaria does not accept presidential and parliamentary elections held on Sunday in Ukraine's Donbass as legitimate, Foreign Ministry officials say.

Genoveva Chervenakova, who heads the institution's press service, told the Bulgarian National Radio the vote was not in line with international law.

Alexandеr Zakharchenko and Igor Plotnitskiy, leaders of the Donetsk ad Luhansk "People's Republics" in Ukraine's east, are to remain leaders of the rebel-controlled entities after the regions held presidential and general elections Sunday.

Partial count cited by Russian and Ukrainian media outlets suggest they get over 70 and 60 percent, respectively.

The rebel Luhansk and Donetsk republics in eastern Ukraine are holding leadership elections on Sunday.

The candidates in the vote, which takes place a week after the official parliamentary elections in Ukraine in which the residents in eastern Ukraine didn't have the chance to vote, are practically unknown and lack opposition.