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We congratulate the people of Ukraine who have actively participated in Ukraine’s presidential election. High voter turnout shows that Ukraine’s society decides the future of its country, which has had such fundamental values as peace and a national dialogue involving all regions and political forces in the country. We congratulate the Government of Ukraine on holding the presidential election in such difficult period for the country. In their preliminary assessment of the election, international observers said that the free and fair election was conducted in compliance with international standards. A wider than ever participation of international observers in this election has highlighted its special importance for reaching a settlement to the most difficult political crisis Ukraine has ever seen since gaining independence. Lithuania’s representatives also actively observed the election - Lithuania was third according to the number of national observers in Ukraine’s presidential election after Poland and the United States.

We congratulate Petro Poroshenko on his victory (according to preliminary results, he wins more than 50 percent of the vote). Namely the trust that a vast majority of all Ukrainians have in him offers hope that P.Poroshenko will become a symbol of national unity, consolidating people and state institutions in the face of current threats to Ukraine, and ensuring the implementation of advanced European reforms so necessary for the country.

We condemn the solitary efforts by illegal armed separatist groups in eastern Ukraine’s Donetsk and Luhansk regions to interfere with the election and to prevent inhabitants from expressing their will. We commend the possibility offered by the Central Election Commission of Ukraine to the inhabitants of these regions and Crime, which is occupied by Russia, to vote in other electoral districts.

We reaffirm our full support for the ambitions of the people and the Government of Ukraine to join the European Union, the legal basis for which is formed by the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement. The EU is committed to conclude the signature procedure of the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement as soon as possible after the presidential election.