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The BBC's David Stern reports from Kiev where there are hopes the vote will bring more stability
Ukrainian voters are going to the polls in snap elections for a new parliament.
President Petro Poroshenko called the poll as he aims to cement a new direction for the country after the ousting of pro-Russian leaders earlier this year.
He also made a surprise visit to the restive Donbass region, the site of a continuing pro-Russian insurgency.
About 3m people in the eastern Donetsk and Luhansk regions in Donbass will not take part in the vote.
The separatists in eastern Ukraine plan to hold their own polls next month.
Another 1.8 million people in Crimea, annexed by Russia in March, will also not take part.
The vote also comes amid an energy crisis, with Russia cutting off gas supplies to Ukraine in June in a dispute over unpaid bills.
Ukraine's economy is collapsing, with GDP forecast to fall between 7 and 10% this year.
Observers 'concerned'On Sunday, Mr Poroshenko's official Twitter account said that he had arrived in the Donbass region, without specifying where.
International observers have expressed "serious concerns" over the effect the violence in the east of the country is having on the election.
The head of an Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) observer mission, Swedish MP Kent Harstedt, said this was the most challenging of all the elections he had observed.
He feared it would difficult to reach out to hundreds of thousands of displaced people in eastern Ukraine, but also said he hoped the poll could be a turning point.
OSCE monitors are also present in Moscow to observe voting by the estimated two to three million Ukrainian citizens there.
Half of the 450 seats in parliament will be allocated proportionally according to a party list system, with parties needing to gain more than 5% to win seats.
Another 198 MPs will be elected from individual constituencies, with 27 from Crimea and the rebel-held areas remaining vacant.
The main parties vying for seats are:
- Mr Poroshenko's Poroshenko Bloc, comprising his own Solidarity party and Udar, led by boxer Vitali Klitschko
- Prime Minister Arseny Yatsenyuk's People's Front
- Oleh Lyashko's nationalist Radical Party
- Former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko's Fatherland Party
Most are nationalist and pro-Western, and ousted President Viktor Yanukovych's Party of Regions is not running.
However, three parties comprising his former allies are seeking votes in the south and east of the country.
Mr Yanukovych fled in February after a wave of pro-Western protests in Kiev triggered by his refusal to sign a partnership agreement with the European Union.
Anger in eastern Ukraine at his overthrow turned to unrest with separatists seizing government buildings and beginning an insurgency in April.
At least 3,700 people have been killed since the conflict began, including 300 killed after a ceasefire was agreed on 5 September.
On Friday Russian President Vladimir Putin said for the first time that Moscow had helped Mr Yanukovych flee.
Are you in Ukraine? Will the elections make a difference? You can email your experiences to haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk.
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