KIEV, Ukraine — Viktor Yushchenko was sworn in Sunday as president of Ukraine, pledging to root out corruption, promote national unity and build strong ties with the rest of Europe.
The former opposition leader took his oath of office in parliament, his hand on an antique Bible. But he honored supporters by delivering his main inaugural speech in central Kiev's Independence Square, the site of mass demonstrations late last year that helped force a rerun of fraud-marred balloting.
After a contest that saw strong support in Ukraine's largely Russian-speaking east for his Moscow-backed rival, former Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovich, the new president said he wanted to ease regional divisions exacerbated by the bitter political campaign.
"I am president of all Ukraine," Yushchenko told a festive crowd of about 300,000. "We cannot be divided either by the languages we speak, by the faiths we profess or by the political views we choose."
Yushchenko's focus on reconciliation came despite his being poisoned in September, an unsolved incident that he says was an assassination attempt by authorities. His face is disfigured with pockmarks, cysts and darkened areas as a result of what his Austrian doctors have said is dioxin poisoning. Yushchenko has said that a full investigation will determine who is responsible.
The geopolitical importance of Ukraine, and Yushchenko's victory, was reflected in the list of visiting dignitaries, headed by seven presidents of former Soviet bloc states, nearly all of them oriented toward the West. Secretary of State Colin L. Powell traveled from Washington to demonstrate U.S. support.
The crowd cheered the appearance of Polish President Aleksander Kwasniewski, who along with other European leaders played a key role in negotiating a peaceful solution to the election crisis.
Former Czech President Vaclav Havel, the onetime dissident who led Czechoslovakia's 1989 Velvet Revolution against communist rule, was also among the guests.
The protests in Kiev, the capital, were dubbed the Orange Revolution, a reference to Yushchenko's campaign color. Many of those who stood for hours in subfreezing temperatures to be in the square Sunday wore orange scarves or ribbons.
Powell met privately with Yushchenko for about 40 minutes Sunday. At a joint appearance, Powell told Yushchenko, "You will continue to enjoy the full support of the American government and the American people as you move forward to undertake the efforts that the Ukrainian people are expecting."
