From Chris Miller in Kyiv:
"Yulia Tymoshenko's spokeswoman tells me: 'We will win all the same. We will get second place. Wait for the official results of the central election commission.' All exit polls thus far show Tymoshenko in third place."
From Chris Miller in Kyiv:
"Tymoshenko's campaign is already suggesting it may contest the outcome, saying their exit polling shows her in second place, which would secure a spot in the second-round election."
Bit more detail on that exit poll:
An initial joint national exit poll predicts comic actor Volodymyr Zelenskyy will win the first round of Ukraine's presidential election with 30.4 percent of the vote, ahead of the incumbent Petro Poroshenko with 17.8 percent. The poll puts former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko third with 14.2 percent.
Latest from the Interior Ministry. It said it had received more than 1,600 complaints about electoral violations two hours before polls were due to close.
It said the reported violations included unauthorized campaigning at polling stations, attempts to bribe voters, and removal of ballots.
From our Kyiv correspondent Christopher Miller:
As the Zelenskyy campaign headquarters began to fill up after 6 p.m. local time, Oleksandr Danylyuk, a former finance minister of Ukraine after the Euromaidan uprising and a Zelenskyy adviser, chatted with RFE/RL about the candidate.
Danylyuk expressed cautious optimism when asked about how election night might end.
“I hope that the results will show a significant advance of the position of Zelenskyy,” he said of percentages, which pre-election polls showed were in the mid-20 percent range.
“Hopefully it’s not wishful thinking, but I think it’s going to be a good result,” he added later.
Amid reports that some campaigns may challenge the results after alleged election violations, Danylyuk said, “I think that if that is what’s going to happen, what the Zelenskyy campaign should do is just, you know, patiently wait, and see if the others sort out their disagreements. [Zelenskyy] needs to be above this. At the end of the day, that’s what people want. He’s a new name, a new face. He should not take any part in all of these dog fights between the politicians.”
Zelenskyy has been criticized for not providing details about his plan for the country should he win the election. Responding to those criticisms, he told RFE/RL that Zelenskyy is “working on a plan for the first 100 days. It will be a very concrete, very effective plan.” He declined to provide specifics, however, saying it would be best to ask the candidate directly.
Responding to a question about what exactly Zelenskyy would do differently than Poroshenko if he were to replace him, Danylyuk said, the key is -- in English – do.
And what are Zelenskyy’s greatest strengths?
According to Danylyuk, “he’s not part of the system. He doesn’t owe anything to this corrupt system. And the system doesn’t owe him anything either.”
“I hope that the first thing he will do [as president] is creatively ruin the system that for so many years was holding Ukraine back,” Danylyuk continued. “After that, we will see a new Ukraine, a new government, a new type of people that will run the country.”
Amazing video by our Ukrainian Service of a 101-year-old man voting in the western Ukrainian city of Uzhhorod. He's saying:
"I came to cast my vote for a very beautiful future for all of us -- our children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren -- with great hope, God help us. Everybody must go [to vote], because everything depends upon us."