Poland congratulates Ukraine on 'pro-reform' election

A statue of former Soviet leader Vladimir Lenin is dressed with a Ukrainian national flag at a square in the eastern Ukrainian town of Kramatorsk, near of Slaviansk, 27 October 2014. Ukrainians voted for a new parliament on 26 October hoping to restore political stability to the crisis-hit country, but few observers expect that they will facilitate a peaceful solution to the bloody conflict with pro-Russian separatists: photo - EPA/ROMAN PILIPEY

Presidential spokeswoman in Warsaw Joanna Trzaska-Wieczorek has told the PAP news agency that during a telephone call with Kiev last night President Komorowski said he was “ready to support a Ukrainian program of reforms declared by the victorious political forces during the elections” and the two heads of state “discussed a calendar of meetings and joint ventures for the coming period”.

With half the vote counted, President Petro Poroshenko's bloc and the party of prime minister Arseniy Yatseniuk were neck-and-neck with more than 21 percent of the vote each.

There was no voting in eastern areas controlled by pro-Russian separatists, however, with rebels planning to hold their own elections next Sunday.

Mykhaylo Okhendovsky, Chairman of the Ukrainian Central Election Commission, speaks during his briefing in Kiev, Ukraine, 27 October 2014, a day after the country went to vote in the parliamentary elections: photo - EPA/SERGEY

President Barack Obama said the elections were "an important milestone in Ukraine's democratic development" and EU officials declared the results represented a "victory for the people of Ukraine and of democracy".

Russia's foreign minister Sergei Lavrovs said on Monday that "I think we will recognize this election because it is very important for us that Ukraine finally will have authorities which do not fight one another, do not drag Ukraine to the West or to the East, but which will deal with the real problems facing the country." (pg)