Pro-Russians in Mariupol hold vote to split from Ukraine Voting began Sunday in referendums called by pro-Russian rebels in eastern Ukraine to split from the rest of the ex-Soviet republic, polls the US slammed as "illegal" amid fears they could spark civil war. In Mariupol, scene of recent fierce fighting between Ukrainian troops and pro-Russian militants, queues of hundreds of people snaked towards the polling stations, an AFP reporter on the scene said. IMAGES AND SOUNDBITES in Mariupol