Petro Poroshenko / REUTERS

Incumbent Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, who was running for a new term, says that the results of the exit polls give him grounds to call and congratulate his opponent, Volodymyr Zelensky, on the victory in the presidential runoff.

"'Never give up' – they tell me now when I see the results of the exit polls. And the results are clear and give me grounds to call my opponent and congratulate him on his victory," Poroshenko said at the press center of his campaign headquarters, according to an UNIAN correspondent.

Read alsoZelensky leads with 72.7%, followed by Poroshenko with 27.3% – TSN exit poll

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According to him, it is necessary to do as civilized European democracies do. Poroshenko said that "it will be April 22 tomorrow" and urged everyone in his team to get united in order to "defend Ukraine."

As UNIAN reported, according to the TSN exit poll, 72.7% voted for Zelensky, 27.3% for Poroshenko. According to the results of the 2019 National Exit Poll as of 18.00 Kyiv time, some 73.2% of voters supported Zelensky, 25.3% voted for Poroshenko.

Later, Zelensky said at a briefing at his campaign headquarters on April 21 that Poroshenko had called him to greet, according to the Ukrainian online newspaper Ukrayinska Pravda.

"He has just congratulated me on the victory. I am very grateful that he congratulated me. He said that I could count on his help at any time. He recognized my victory and my team. It's cool, we unite Ukraine," Zelensky said.