Donetsk, Ukraine ? Supporters of presidential candidate Viktor Yushchenko traveling in a convoy of 50 orange-draped cars ran into a roadblock of his rival’s backers Tuesday and failed to carry their campaign into this industrial city — a center of opposition to Yushchenko.

With five days until Sunday’s court-ordered rerun of Yushchenko’s runoff election against Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych, the faceoff underscored the division in this former Soviet republic of 48 million people between the expanding European Union and a reinvigorated Russia.

But in a conciliatory gesture, Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has strongly backed Ukraine’s prime minister, said Tuesday that he could work with an administration headed by Yushchenko, a former prime minister and head of the Central Bank.

“We have worked with him already and the cooperation was not bad,” Putin said during a visit to Germany. “If he wins, I don’t see any problems.”

Putin had irritated Western nations by quickly congratulating Yanukovych after he was declared the winner of last month’s presidential runoff, only to see his purported victory canceled because of vote-rigging.

Ukraine’s west and its tree-lined capital, Kiev, back Yushchenko, a reformer who wants to move closer to the West. Yanukovych has most of his support in the industrial east, where the mainly Russian-speaking population has close ties to Russia and fears being marginalized by the Ukrainian-speaking center and west.

The pro-Yushchenko convoy, dubbed the “friendship journey,” was halted a little over a mile outside Donetsk by about 300 cars adorned with Yanukovych’s blue and white banners. As those blocking the road beeped their horns, the convoy retreated and headed to Kharkiv, an eastern city where support for Yushchenko is higher.

People shout at a convoy of supporters of opposition candidate Viktor Yushchenko as they block a road outside the city of Donetsk, Ukraine. The 50-car convoy, dubbed the friendship

Carrying 185 people, mainly artists and musicians, the convoy is traveling around Ukraine, a nation the size of France, to rally support for Yushchenko.

“Yanukovych is our president and we don’t need another,” said Kateryna Gula, wearing a Yanukovych flag as a skirt as she joined the roadblock Tuesday.

“We can’t let the orange horde into Donetsk,” said another Yanukovych backer, Andriy Koloiko, referring to Yushchenko’s campaign color.