DONETSK, March 13. /TASS/. Ukraine has intensified attempts of information sabotage in the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR), Vladimir Vysotsky, chairman of the regional election commission, said at a briefing.

"The day went by with unfriendly manifestations. The enemy’s CIPsO (Ukraine’s Center for Information and Psychological Operations - TASS) is operating, and they have become active. The morning started with reports that a bomb had been planted in a national economic facility. This case was promptly mitigated and worked out through a legal procedure. A link was spread on the internet, which obligingly invited users to allegedly receive methodical recommendations for campaigning. The link was fake, it was a phishing site. By clicking on it, an individual would have lost all his or her passwords, access keys to all his or her devices and accounts," Vysotsky said.

He told TASS that members of regional election commissions have been receiving threatening phone calls and messages.

"It is noteworthy that all of them appear to have been written as if copied, with exactly the same document settings and nearly identical texts, as only some of the words were changed," he added.

Since February 25, early voting has been held in the DPR at the polling stations located next to the line of contact. It began elsewhere on March 10 and will last until March 14. Voting is taking place in the neighborhoods, and stationary polling stations will also open on March 15, 16, and 17.