Young Ukrainians dance at nightclub House of Meteorologists, May 23, 2014. Sunday's upcoming election in Ukraine has not only exposed the divide between east and west, but between old and young. Unlike their elders, younger people have no memory of Soviet life, and most see themselves as Ukrainian. (Photo by Evelyn Hockstein/The Washington Post)

Young women celebrate a birthday at a Donetsk nightspot, on May 23, 2014. Polls show that most young people in Ukraine – a quarter of the population is 24 or younger – do not blur the boundaries between themselves and their powerful neighbor, even if they disagree about how best to relate to Russia, a crucial economic lifeline for many in Ukraine’s industrial east. (Photo by Evelyn Hockstein/The Washington Post)

A young woman walks passes the Donetsk regional administration building, which is occupied by pro-Russian separatists, on May 23, 2014. (Photo by Evelyn Hockstein/The Washington Post)

About 500 people gathered in Donetsk's Lenin Square May 24,2014, to denounce Sunday's vote as an illegal exercise by the “junta” that took power in Kiev. (Photo by Evelyn Hockstein/The Washington Post)

Denis Pushilin, leader of the Donetsk People's Republic, fired up the crowd with news that the self-proclaimed republic had forged a union with neighboring Luhansk People's Republic, on May 24, 2014. Sunday's upcoming election in Ukraine has not only exposed the divide between east and west, but between old and young. “These are just the first steps toward the reunion of the Russian people!” Pushilin declared, surrounded by a group of masked bodyguards carrying automatic weapons. The crowd responded with cheers of “Good show!” and “There will be no election!” (Photo by Evelyn Hockstein/The Washington Post)

Separatists in Donetsk protest the election, on May 24, 2014. The likelihood of a successful vote in the east on Sunday appeared nearly impossible, as election officials stayed away from their offices Saturday after being visited there in recent days by gunmen who threatened violence and abductions. One regional official, speaking on the condition of anonymity to talk candidly, said officials are trying to ensure that at least one polling station will be open in Donetsk, a city of nearly 1 million. (Photo by Evelyn Hockstein/The Washington Post)

“To be a Ukrainian and to live in a country like Ukraine is a great honor,” said Nikolay Yaremchuk, 69, on May 22, 2014 – a former Soviet fighter pilot who lives in Kiev but was stationed across territory that now lies deep inside Russia. “At that time, we didn’t consider Russia a different country,” Yaremchuk said. “The Soviet Union was our motherland, so Russia was our motherland as well.” Yaremchuk holds a model of a Yakovlev Yak-28 combat airplane, the type he used to fly. (Photo by Alexey Furman/The Washington Post)

“I am not even the same age as my country,” said Daria Mykhailova, 20, on May 23, 2014 – a student at the Taras Shevchenko National University of Kiev who speaks to her mother in Russian, to her father in Ukrainian, and has relatives scattered across Russia. “I was born here, and this is where I belong.” Mykhailova is shown at an exhibition of luxury items found in the residence of former Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych, who fled the country in February. (Photo by Alexey Furman/The Washington Post)

Daria Mykhailova, a student, is seen in the Kyiv subway on her way from home to the university, on May 23, 2014, in Kiev, Ukraine. (Photo by Alexey Furman/The Washington Post)

University student Valentyn Onyshchenko looks at his computer screen at his apartment in Kiev, on May 23, 2014. When Onyshchenko, 22, who speaks in Russian to his parents but identifies as Ukrainian, posted photos on Facebook of himself protesting the government last fall, some of his Russian friends quickly “started being rough and inappropriate,” he said. “We just stopped talking,” Onyshchenko said, and eventually they unfriended him. (Photo by Alexey Furman/The Washington Post)

Kirill Alonzov, 22, a student at Donetsk National University, opposes the separatist movement. ”It’s the simplicity of communist ideology, a conservative way of thinking,” he says, standing with his girlfriend and fellow student Kate Leonova, 20, on May 23, 2014. (Photo by Evelyn Hockstein/The Washington Post)

Young people enjoy the afternoon along the Kalmius embankment near Constitution square, May 23, 2014. Sunday's upcoming election in Ukraine has not only exposed the divide between east and west, but between old and young. (Photo by Evelyn Hockstein/The Washington Post)

“I’m for a united country, but the Donetsk region should be part of a federation,” said Roman Danilevskiy, 20, left, who is studying engineering at National Technical University in Donetsk and was drinking beer with some classmates at a cafe one recent evening. “Half of Ukraine is Ukrainian, but half the country speaks Russian, and that’s why we lost Crimea”. Said Lira Gladkih, 18, center, “The pensioners are deciding what the young people should do. But for us, it’s not the way. We don’t want to live in the U.S.S.R.”. (Photo by Evelyn Hockstein/The Washington Post)

An interdenominational Christian group pray for Ukraine at the Kalmius embankmentt near Constitution square, May 23, 2014 in Donetsk. The group is on the 77th day of prayer for Ukraine and have been attacked and intimidated frequently. Ukrainian security forces have been tightening the ring around Donetsk, and the number of clashes has increased in recent days. (Photo by Evelyn Hockstein/The Washington Post)