"It was 5.30pm on election day in Ukraine when the thugs in masks arrived armed with rubber truncheons.

"Vitaly Kizima, an election monitor at Zhovtneve in Ukraine's Sumy region, watched in horror as 30 men in tracksuits stormed into the village polling station.

"'They started to beat voters and election officials, trying to push through towards the ballot boxes,' he told The Telegraph.

"'People's faces were cut from blows to the head. There was blood all over.'"

• London Telegraph Article