You can track the Ukrainian Central Election Commission's vote tally in real time here.
The latest from RFE/RL's News Desk:
KYIV -- Television comic and political newcomer Volodymyr Zelenskiy has accepted President Petro Poroshenko's concession and seems on course to become Ukraine's next president with the vote tally barely under way but exit polls pointing to a landslide.
"I want to say that I am very grateful to Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, who just congratulated me on my victory," Zelensky said at a press conference shortly after polls closed in the April 21 runoff. "I thank him. He said that I can count on his help at any time. He acknowledged my victory and my team's."
Poroshenko conceded the election soon after an early National Exit Poll result showed Zelenskiy winning with around 73 percent of the vote to Poroshenko's 25 percent.
Later, with just under 3 percent of the ballots counted, the Central Election Commission said Zelenskiy had 72.05 percent of the vote and Poroshenko had 25.62 percent.
Turnout for the two-man second round was said to have been a little over 62 percent.
Zelenskiy has described his candidacy as "a simple man who has come to destroy this system," in a reference to public perceptions that Ukraine's politics and society are mired in corruption and nepotism against the backdrop of a draining five-year war against Russia-backed separatists.
Zelenskiy said he intends to bring "new people" into Ukrainian politics, adding that he would turn to Poroshenko for advice "if I need it." He said he would make personnel announcements "in the near future."
He said that his top priority as president would be to secure from Russia the release of all Ukrainian prisoners of war and other prisoners and pledged to "reboot" the Minsk process for resolving the conflict in parts of eastern Ukraine.
"Our first task is the liberation of our prisoners," he said. "I will do everything to get our boys home. All our prisoners, without exception."
Andrei Kolesnikov, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Moscow Center, spoke to Current Time. Here's a summary of his thoughts:
The Kremlin’s view of Zelenskiy is far from positive. They are in a waiting mode to see Zelenskiy’s moves. His only window with Russia at the moment is his approach towards a POW swap and conflict management. Later will come later.
Zelenskiy’s future is that of a narrow balancing space. Fast results and high expectations are always dangerous. His future depends upon his ability to actually make a reboot – see how Macron fared or how Pashinian is doing where results are so far scarce after a huge tectonic shift.
Zelenskiy is not a populist. He is a politician of the postpopulist era. He follows the footsteps of Slovakia where a president of a completely new fashion and format emerged – no more gloomy old men.
Zelenskiy Fined For Showing Marked Ballot In Ukrainian Presidential Vote
Ukrainian presidential candidate Volodymyr Zelenskiy was fined for showing the public his marked ballot. Police fined Zelenskiy on April 21 after he cast his ballot in the second round of the Ukrainian presidential vote. In an effort to maintain anonymity in the electoral process, Ukraine has a rule that considers it a minor offense to publicly display a marked ballot. The cost of the fine was estimated to be about $30.
Poroshenko: 'I Am Staying In Politics, I Will Fight For Ukraine'
In his concession speech following the April 21 presidential runoff vote against Volodymyr Zelenskiy, incumbent Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko vowed to remain in politics. Speaking on April 21 in Kyiv, he called on the international community "to help Ukraine secure its recent achievements and the strategic course of the nation for integration into the European Union and NATO."
Reality Show: Zelenskiy's Big Day In Six Moments
By Christopher Miller
KYIV -- Fact has followed fiction.
Volodymyr Zelenskiy, a comic actor who plays a common man accidentally catapulted into an exasperated Ukraine's presidency on TV, has won big in the country's real presidential election.
Almost as remarkably, he appears to be doing it in runaway fashion in a process that both he and defeated incumbent Petro Poroshenko cited after the vote as a model for all post-Soviet states.
Here are six enduring moments from a historic, if surreal, day in Ukrainian politics.
Pumped Up With Eminem
After he had cast his ballot -- and having acknowledged that he got "little" sleep -- Zelenskiy hinted that he had awakened on election day with some nerves. His wife, Yelena, had tried to calm and energize him with some music, he said.
Her choice of artists? Eminem.
We don't know if Zelenskiy "lost himself" or "sang for the moment," as he couldn't recall the American rapper's exact song. Could have been Lucky You.
But he demonstrated just how he bobbed his head to it.
Busted By The Cops
With scores of cameras rolling inside a packed polling station at Kyiv's Maritime Academy, Zelenskiy had cast a vote for himself. Then he flashed it to reporters before dropping it into the ballot box.
While the cameras loved it, the police did not. It apparently broke Ukrainian legislation aimed at preventing campaigning by candidates on election day.
Shortly thereafter, officers arrived at Zelenskiy's office to fine him less than $30 for the display.
One of the officers who wrote up the citation, Viktor Stolyar, told Current Time afterward that police had "consulted about it and decided to draw up an administrative protocol" since that would be "more effective than a criminal case that couldn't be completed."
For his part, Zelenskiy said it seemed like a fair cop: "OK, I broke the law. The law is the law."
A 'Pig In A Poke' Again
Meanwhile, a topless activist from the homegrown protest collective Femen challenged the notion that a vote for the TV president was a step in the right direction for Ukraine.
"We don't know who will come with Zelenskiy; he's a cat in a bag," she said outside the polling station where Zelenskiy cast his ballot in Kyiv, invoking the Slavic equivalent of a pig in a poke.
It was a direct quote from Poroshenko at the raucous stadium meeting on April 19 that was as close as the two runoff candidates came to a presidential debate, with the incumbent accusing the challenger of ducking policy questions and providing little of substance that he or voters could latch onto, saying he was a "cat in a bag." (Zelenskiy countered by calling Poroshenko a "wolf in sheep's clothing.")
"It can turn out to be a funny mistake -- funny and fatal," the protester, who identified herself as Julia, told reporters on April 21, with a Zelenskiy victory seemingly assured.
"Right now, all Ukrainians' hopes are in his hands.... I'm asking Zelenskiy and all politicians, including old ones, to stop raping our country. Enough of that; people have stopped hoping."
Femen's website added that Ukraine had been "raped by a gang of crooks" and suggested "a pig in a poke is the logical fruit of such love."
Hard To Swallow
Novaya Vremya reported that in Zelenskiy's hometown, Kriviy Rih, a woman "in a state of intoxication ate part of a ballot."
The paper quoted local election commission member Inna Ivanchenko, who posted on Facebook evidence of the defiled ballot, with an "X" mark next to Zelenskiy's name and a line drawn through Poroshenko's.
"They managed to snatch a piece," Novaya Vremya quoted Ivanchenko as saying.
It was one of the seemingly lighter moments caught on video for the Ukrainian Election Commission's Facebook page.
But it was also part of what the Electoral Commission warned was an election-day spoiler for some voters, with reports that social networks were disseminating misleading information about how to fill out ballots. Not only should the preferred candidate be marked, the bum advice went, but also the other candidate's name should be crossed out. That misinformation, the commission warned, was getting thousands of views and shares and would spoil the ballots in question.
5... 4... 3... 2... President-Elect Of Ukraine
Finally, as election night fell, with the flair of -- well, of a 41-year-old actor/entertainer, Zelenskiy strode into the spotlight at his campaign headquarters with a wide smile and to the theme song of his Servant Of The People sitcom. He took the stage about a minute before polling stations closed and the embargo was lifted on exit polls that predicting his landslide win.
Then he counted down from five before numbers flashed across the huge video screen showing him leading all the exit polls with at least around 73 percent of the vote to Poroshenko's 25 or so.
"Thank you," he shouted into a microphone as the crowd cheered and confetti rained down.
The Result In Two Pics
Within minutes of Zelenskiy's triumphant countdown, across town, Poroshenko would take the stage in a considerably less festive appearance to concede the election.
But no words could capture the two sides' electoral fates better than the images that were starting to come out of Kyiv.