KIEV: Pro-Western President Petro Poroshenko faces a stern test of his unpopular belt-tightening measures and stuttering anti-corruption drive when Ukraine votes in local elections Sunday that exclude the pro-Russian separatist east.

The polls come during a lull in fighting and amid growing worries that Ukraine is slipping off the global agenda despite just turning into Europe’s second-poorest country and still standing as a bulwark against Russia’s feared expansion west.

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