Facebook/Petro Poroshenko
Petro Poroshenko and his wife, Maryna, cast their ballots on election day, May 25.
The Kyiv mayoralty was handily won by Mr. Klitschko with 56 percent of the vote, compared to 8 percent for the runner-up, 32-year-old Lesia Orobets, a national deputy. His UDAR party won 39 percent of the seats for the Kyiv City Council, compared to 7 percent for runner-up Samopomich, a party founded and led by Lviv Mayor Andrii Sadovyi.
Mr. Poroshenko was inaugurated as Ukraine’s fifth president on June 7 amidst unprecedented challenges for independent Ukraine that threatened its very existence. Inauguration day ceremonies drew 56 foreign delegations to Kyiv, including U.S. Vice-President Joe Biden, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper and European Council President von Rompuy, as well as representatives of Ukraine’s political and business elite, including billionaires Rinat Akhmetov of Donetsk and Igor Kolomoisky of Dnipropetrovsk.
Drawing the most public acclaim was Mr. Poroshenko’s inauguration speech in the Verkhovna Rada in which he addressed Ukraine’s crisis with Russia and set the priorities for the first year of his presidency, including concrete steps to resolve the war in Donbas. He outlined major policies: Ukraine won’t relinquish its claim to Russian-occupied Crimea, Ukrainian will remain the single state language, he is ready to sign the free trade portion of the European Union Association Agreement. Mr. Poroshenko also spoke of his commitment to a parliamentary-presidential republic and early parliamentary elections, amending the Constitution to accommodate government decentralization, but rejecting any federalization of the country, and rebuilding the army with the support of domestic industry, which he identified as his top priority.
Mr. Poroshenko directly addressed the residents of the Donbas in the Russian language, assuring them that the Ukrainian government wouldn’t abandon them in these difficult times. “With what will I, as president, come to you in the nearest future?” the president asked rhetorically. “With peace. With a draft of decentralizing power. With the guarantee of free use of the Russian language in your region. With the firm intention not to divide Ukrainians between those who are right and wrong.”
Just over a week after the inauguration, Ukraine observed a day of mourning for the 49 soldiers killed when pro-Russian separatists shot down a military transport plane. President Poroshenko declared the day of mourning on June 15 and vowed a firm response against those who shot down the aircraft early on June 14 as it approached the airport in Luhansk. “Ukraine is in sorrow, but we strongly continue the struggle for peace.”
The new president on June 19 completed the formation of his new team when Parliament approved his nominations for three key posts: Pavlo Klimkin as foreign affairs minister, Vitalii Yarema as procurator general and Valeria Gontareva as National Bank of Ukraine chair. He also named new staff at the Presidential Administration.
In a June 21 address to the people of Ukraine, Mr. Poroshenko explained his peace plan, which included an immediate unilateral ceasefire to last one week. “These are decisive days that present a good chance for a peaceful settlement,” he said. The plan also included an “amnesty for those members of illegal armed formations who didn’t kill civilians or Ukrainian soldiers, who will lay down their weapons”; the release of all hostages; the opening of “a corridor for the escape of Russian mercenaries to their motherland,” but on one condition: “that they leave machine guns, tanks and armored vehicles here”; liberation of administrative buildings in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, and restoration of order and functioning of local authorities; and the beginning of political dialogue. He underscored that “the issue of the territorial integrity of Ukraine is not open to discussion,” although he promised decentralization of power, with Ukrainian regions gaining more rights and authority. The Donbas, he said would not be left to deal with its problems alone. “Not only Ukraine, but also the EU will come to help. We will help to restore the infrastructure destroyed by militants. At the cost of the state, we will restore housing destroyed during combat actions, we will restore workspaces. Donbas residents will have a place to return, to live and to work.”