Pro-Western and nationalist parties were on course on Monday for a crushing Ukrainian election win, boosting President Petro Poroshenko’s bid to merge his country with Europe and make peace with pro-Russian rebels.
Early results and exit polls indicated overwhelming support for Poroshenko’s drive to break his war-torn country out of Russia’s orbit despite the painful economic measures the Kremlin has levied on its western neighbour in reprisal.
Many in Kiev and the West blame the six-month uprising in the east of the country, that has claimed 3,700 lives, on Russian President Vladimir Putin’s effort to destabilise Ukraine’s new government and create a “frozen conflict” in its vital rustbelt.
But parties with links to Moscow or the old Viktor Yanukovych regime that was ousted after his abrupt rejection in February of a landmark EU pact were routed at the ballot boxes on Sunday.