World Leaders Congratulate Ukraine's Zelenskiy on Election Success

Leaders of France, the U.K., the U.S., Germany, Canada, and Poland, among others, have all expressed their joy and readiness to cooperate with the new president-elect of Ukraine. Russia abstained from sending in their greetings assuring that congratulating Volodymyr Zelenskiy at this stage would be "premature."

A statement by the White House read that the President of the United States Donald Trump wished Zelenskiy success and called the election an "important moment in Ukraine’s history, noting the peaceful and democratic manner of the electoral process."

US businessman Donald Trump holds a piece of paper with information about his personal finances while announcing that he is running to be president of the United States, during an event at Trump Tower in New York, New York, USA, on June 16, 2015. Photo credit: EPA

"President Trump underscored the unwavering support of the United States for Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity – within its internationally recognized borders – and expressed his commitment to work together with President-elect Zelenskiy and the Ukrainian people to implement reforms that strengthen democracy, increase prosperity, and root out corruption," the statement reads.

While German Chancellor Angela Merkel highlighted the recent improvements of the German-Ukrainian relations and invited Zelenskiy to Berlin.

"Since the revolution of dignity, the relations of our countries have intensified to a gratifying extent - politically as well as economically, socially and culturally.
The stabilization of Ukraine and peaceful conflict resolution are as important to me as the implementation of centralized judicial reforms, decentralization and the fight against corruption," Merkel said according to a statement published on the German government's official website.

Angela Merkel, Chancellor of Germany, and Klaus Schwab, Founder and Executive Chairman of the World Economic Forum, WEF, walk onto the stage before adressing a plenary session during the 48th Annual Meeting of the WEF, in Davos, Switzerland on January 24, 2018. Photo: EPA-EFE/LAURENT GILLIERON

"The Federal Government will continue to vigorously assist Ukraine in its right to sovereignty and territorial integrity," she added.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau tweeted that he is "looking forward to working with" Ukraine's president-elect.

Prime Minister of Canada Justin Trudeau (L) and Borge Brende (R) from Norway, President and Member of the Managing Board of the World Economic Forum, WEF, during a plenary session during the opening day of the 48th Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum, WEF, in Davos, Switzerland, 23 January 2018.  Photo: EPA-EFE/LAURENT GILLIERON

Similar sentiments were expressed by British Prime Minister Theresa May and, according to Zelenskiy's Facebook post, French President Emmanuel Macron.

Polish President Andrzej Duda was also among those who greeted Zelenskiy.

"The president congratulated the Ukrainian President-elect Volodymyr Zelenskiy and invited him to Poland," read the tweet on the official page of the Polish presidential administration.

According to the Polish channel TVP Info, in his message, Duda also expressed hope that Ukrainian-Polish relations would enter a "new stage."

While the Kremlin said it's too early to congratulate Zelenskiy because "he [Zelenskiy] can only be judged by his concrete actions."

Russian President Vladimir Putin's press secretary Dmitry Peskov added that it would be "premature" to talk about congratulating Zelenskiy or about Zelenskiy's and Putin's future cooperation, Russia's state-owed news agency TASS reported.

However, the Prime Minister of Russia Dmitry Medvedev already expressed hope for a bettering relationship between Ukraine and Russia.

"I have no illusions whatsoever in this regard. At the same time, there is still a chance for Ukraine to improve its relations with Russia," Medvedev wrote on Facebook adding that to achieve that, the new Ukrainian leader would need "common sense" and "an understanding of the inherent value of the relations [between Ukrainians and Russians.]"

However, not all congratulations were appreciated by Zelenskiy and his team. Ukraine's fugitive ex-president Viktor Yanukovych decided to also pass on his best wishes to the president-elect, Yanukovych's press secretary Yury Kirasir wrote on Facebook. But Zelenskiy's spokesperson Dmytro Razumkov in a comment to the Ukrainian news agency Interfax made it clear that Yanukovych's intentions are not welcome.

"Throughout our campaign, Zelenskiy's team has been receiving this so-called support from Russian propagandists and former Ukrainian officials," Interfax Ukraine cited Razumkov as saying.

"We'll manage without both: their support and their congratulations," he said.