KIEV, Nov. 5 – Ukrainian leaders on Wednesday rushed to congratulate Barack Obama, who on Tuesday was elected the first African-American president of the U.S., calling for strengthening of the strategic partnership between the two countries.

President Viktor Yushchenko said that Ukraine and the U.S. share “common values” and have similar interests on the international arena that will ensure relations to expand.

“I believe the strategic partnership between Ukraine and the United States will continue to play major role in securing peace and stability in the world,” Yushchenko wrote in a telegram congratulating Obama for the victory.

Viktor Yanukovych, Yushchenko’s rival and the leader of opposition Regions Party, which has frequently campaigned using pro-Russian slogans, also stressed
the “strategic partnership” between the two countries.

Obama’s victory “will encourage deepening of the strategic partnership between our countries and further development of mutually beneficial cooperation between Ukrainian and American people in all spheres,” Yanukovych wrote in the telegram.

Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, who is expected to compete against Yushchenko and Yanukovych at the next Ukrainian presidential election in early 2010, said Obama’s victory was an “inspiration.”

“Your victory is the inspiration for us,” Tymoshenko wrote in a telegram. “What seemed to have been impossible, now becomes true.”

Obama on Wednesday was projected to win at least 349 electoral votes, well beyond the required 270.

John McCain, Obama’s defeated Republican rival, saluted the achievement of the first Democrat since Lyndon Johnson to win the White House with significantly more than 50% of the vote.

In a speech after the election, Obama, 47, promised a “new dawn of American leadership,” but warned the country of sacrifices and difficulties ahead.

“It’s been a long time coming, but tonight, because of what we did on this date in this election at this defining moment change has come to America,” Obama told his supporters at crowded celebrations in Chicago.

“Even as we celebrate tonight, we know the challenges that tomorrow will bring are the greatest of our lifetime – two wars, a planet in peril, the worst financial crisis in a century.” (nr/ez)