Ukrainians are heading to polling stations to elect a new parliament, with pro-Western legislators who want to strengthen ties with Europe expected to enter power.
However, 2.8 million voters are unable to cast a ballot, as the election is not being held in Crimea or in the warring eastern regions of Donetsk and Luhansk.
Eight months after its former Moscow-backed president, Viktor Yanukovych, was ousted from power, leadership looks set to fall into Petro Poroshenko's hands. But even though he has the biggest party, a coalition with other groups remains a likely option.
On Saturday night, Mr Poroshenko promised that the new parliament would be "reforming, not corrupt, pro-Ukrainian and pro-European, not pro-Soviet".
There are fears that the election's outcome could result in the divide between the nation's Russian-speaking east and Ukrainian-speaking west becoming permanent.
Insurgent leaders in the areas where fighting continues are planning their own vote for 2 November, but the result will not be acknowledged by Kiev.
One elderly voter in Sunday's elections said she supported the smaller Freedom Party, because she wanted "radical steps in fighting separatism".
Tatyana Kryshko, 75, added: "I know things will be hard financially. I think that we won't live to see a rich and strong Ukraine, but that our children and grandchildren will."
Another told reporters: "We are overhauling the government because Ukraine and Ukrainians have made a European choice.
"Now we need a new parliament to make a European future. We have drawn a line under our Soviet past."
Polls across the country close at 8pm local time (6pm UK time) on Sunday evening.
Meanwhile, a man dressed as Star Wars villain Darth Vader, who is the Internet Party of Ukraine's main candidate, has been stopped from voting because he refused to take off his mask.
He said: "I have a passport, I showed it to the members of the electoral commission.
"To cut it short, they once again did not let me vote. It is disappointing. But the fact that I didn't vote does not mean that the new Ukrainian empire will not be built."
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