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Many now fear that Kolomoisky will follow Zelenskiy into power. A Kiev court this week ruled the nationalization of Privat Bank was unlawful, further fueling worries among Zelenskiy’s critics.

Many who voted for him though said that in Ukraine, any candidate will have some kind of oligarch backing. “I think we can live with it,” said Evgeny Kozhevnikov, a 34-year-old engineer.

Zelenskiy himself has repeatedly said he will be his own man, promising to jail anyone found to have broken the law. He has succeeded in winning over many of the country’s activists and liberal reformers, who played important roles in the 2014 revolution and its aftermath, and who feel that its promise remains unfinished. A number of them, including former ministers have been seeking to advise Zelenskiy on his filling out his team.

Serhi Leshchenko, a prominent liberal journalist and member of parliament said he believed Zelenskiy’s huge result would help bolster his independence. At Zelenskiy's victory party, Leshchenko said that 75% or the vote was \"more than enough to be independent.\" Leshchenko also he believed there was a strong chance for reformers to join Zelenskiy’s government now.

\"There is huge room for people to join his team with reform-minded orientation,\" said Leshchenko. \"I believe that he is a responsible, reliable person.\"

The challenges he faces as a political newcomer, though, are daunting. Those who voted against Zelenskiy worry what his election will mean for Ukraine’s relationship with Russia. Poroshenko has asserted Zelenskiy’s inexperience and his more moderate stance towards Russia — where he is also popular as a comedian -- will mean Ukraine under him could slide back into Moscow's orbit, a fear many voting for Poroshenko expressed Sunday.

Speaking before he voted on Sunday, Poroshenko said the possibility of Zelenskiy’s election was “not funny”, adding that it could lead to Ukraine’s return “to the Russian Empire.”

Many voters in Ukraine, though, say they are ready to see an attempt to resolve the violent impasse in the east, where shelling continues daily and there are casualties every month.

It remains unclear, however, how Zelenskiy would try to do that. He has previously said he would seek direct negotiations with the separatist forces that Moscow backs. But speaking after his victory, he told reporters only that he would continue to pursue talks through the so-called Normandy Format, with France and Germany, and continue with the Minsk Agreements, a peace plan that was implemented in February 2015 but which has long-since stalled.

Despite ambivalence about their options, many in Ukraine have expressed satisfaction that the election, however often chaotic, was truly competitive. Millions watched a stadium debate between the candidates his week that was more like the opening of a boxing match than a traditional political staple.

Diana Gabovich, a young woman voting in Kiev, was one of the few voters ABC News spoke to who expressed unalloyed support for Zelenskiy.

\"The debate went well -- I laughed,” she said. \"We’ll all be laughing, the whole country, in a couple of months.”

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