Zelenskiy Congratulated On Victory In Ukrainian Presidential Race By Foreign Officials

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 22nd April, 2019) Swedish Foreign Minister Margot Wallstrom became on Sunday evening the first foreign official to congratulate Volodymyr Zelenskiy on winning the Ukrainian presidential race, with many other senior officials having followed suit.

"Congratulations to Zelenskiy on winning the competitive presidential election in Ukraine. Sweden will continue to work closely with Ukraine and support its reform programme and its territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence," Wallstrom wrote on Twitter.

Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz congratulated Zelenskiy as well, saying that he would be happy to cooperate with Zelenskiy for the sake of further deepening of the Ukrainian-Austrian relations.

The US Embassy in Kiev said in its congratulation that it was looking forward to continue the "strong partnership" with Ukraine under Zelenskiy's presidency.

"We congratulate President-elect Volodymyr Zelenskyy and thank all those who contributed to ensuring Ukraine's presidential election was conducted in a peaceful manner ... We look forward to continuing the strong U.S.-Ukraine partnership with President-elect Zelenskyy," the embassy wrote on Facebook.

The mission also thanked incumbent Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, Zelenskiy's rival in the runoff, for "his efforts over the past five years to strengthen Ukraine's security, prosperity and democracy, and to strengthen our bilateral relationship."

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg congratulated Zelenskiy as well.

"Congratulations to Volodymyr Zelensky on winning #Ukraine's presidential elections.

Ukraine is a valued #NATO partner & we look forward to continuing our cooperation," Stoltenberg wrote on Twitter.

Meanwhile, Polish President Andrzej Duda invited Zelenskiy to pay a visit to Poland in the status of the president-elect of Ukraine, according to Duda's office.

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan congratulated Zelenskiy on his victory in the Ukrainian presidential race. Remarkably, he did it in the Ukrainian language.

"I sincerely congratulate Volodymyr Zelenskiy on his convincing victory in the democratic election of the president of Ukraine. I am sure that you ... will make every effort to take the friendly relations between Armenia and Ukraine to a new level for the benefit of our people! I wish you success!" Pashinyan wrote on Twitter in Ukrainian.

UK Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt voiced the belief that Zelenskiy would be a "servant of the people," referring to the movie in which the leader of the Ukrainian presidential election had starred.

"Congratulations to Volodymyr Zelenskiy & @zeteam_official [Zelenskiy's campaign team] on your Presidential election success. You will now truly be the Servant of the People. We look forward to working together as the UK continues to support Ukraine, her chosen Euro-Atlantic path, reform process & security," Hunt wrote on Twitter.

Zelenskiy is leading in the second round of the presidential election with 73 percent of the vote, while incumbent President Petro Poroshenko has received 25.5 percent, the final data of the Ukrainian national exit poll indicated earlier in the day.