And word from the OSCE monitors:
The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), which independently monitored the voting, said the first round offered a broad choice of candidates with strong turnout.
"Election day was well administrated and without disturbances," Doris Barnett, the head of the German delegation to the OSCE parliamentary assembly, told a news conference.
"The real work lies ahead. There are so many untouched reforms," she added.
From our news desk, latest on the count:
With 84 percent of ballots counted from the March 31 election, Zelenskyy was on a pace for a strong first-place finish with 30.4 percent of the vote, according to results from the Central Election Commission (CEC). Poroshenko was well behind with 16 percent, followed by former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, who had 13.3 percent.
Ukraine Decides
Comedian Volodymyr Zelenskyy emerged with a strong lead from the first round of Ukraine's presidential elections on March 31. With nearly 80 percent of ballots counted, the Central Election Commission reported Zelenskyy had some 30 percent of the vote, looking likely to face President Petro Poroshenko (with around 16 percent) in a second round run-off on April 21.
Here is today's map of the latest situation in the Donbas conflict zone according to the Ukrainian Defense Ministry. (CLICK IMAGE TO ENLARGE)
One Ukraine researcher's Twitter thread on Zelenskyy: