Kyiv, 14 March

Ukrainians living in regions illegally annexed by Russia are being coerced to vote in the presidential election of their wartime occupier, Vladimir Putin — an exercise denounced by Ukraine as an illegitimate effort by Moscow to tighten control over its neighbour.

Polls don't open in Russia until Friday, but they are open in four annexed regions of Ukraine close to the front line, some of which are not fully in Putin's control.

The election is taking place under highly distorted and restrictive conditions. Many Ukrainians fled these regions – or were deported by Russia – after Putin's invasion two years ago, and there are reports of people being forced to vote at gunpoint. There are no international election observers in Ukraine.

The Russian government is prodding Ukrainians with billboards and posters to vote “for their president” and to “take part in the future of our country.” It is promoting the election with a “V” symbol in the colours of the Russian flag — a letter emblazoned on Russian tanks and a clear nod to Putin's first name.

“ The elections are an extension of military occupation and of the war itself ... rather than an exercise in the democratic franchise,” said Sam Greene, a director at the Centre for European Policy Analysis in Washington.

While there are polling stations, Russia has also dispatched officials with ballot boxes to people's homes, saying it is safer for them to vote on their doorsteps. Polls are already open in Russian-occupied Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia. In Crimea, which was annexed from Ukraine by Putin in 2014, polls will open Friday.

In the Donetsk region, the Ukrainian mayor of Mariupol, Vadym Boychenko, said his city was a symbol of Russia's “military nightmare” and of an “electoral process in ruins.” He said a woman “accompanied by two Chechen military men with machine guns” showed up at his neighbour's apartment with a ballot box and made clear that voting was not optional.

There have been multiple reports of Russian-installed authorities forcing people to vote, and threatening to withhold medical care or other social benefits from those who do not. More than two dozen Ukrainians who refused to vote have been arrested, according to human rights activists.

Analysts say the Kremlin is eager for a high turnout — in Russia and the occupied regions of Ukraine — to signify control, silence dissent and present Putin as a legitimate leader. The Institute for the Study of War said it expects the Kremlin and Russia-installed officials in Ukraine to “fabricate” a high turnout.

The Russia-installed governor of Kherson, Vladimir Saldo, said Thursday that turnout in early voting was “better than expected” and that lines were forming at polling stations.

In the eastern region of Luhansk, which has been partially occupied since 2014, some residents told The Associated Press that they were going to vote for Putin, although several said they had no idea who else was on the ballot.