An online poll on whose introductory remarks were better:
Poroshenko: "In my view, the biggest threat is incompetence in the presidential post."
"You told me that you would read up when you get into the presidency. Do you think we have time? Can the president afford the luxury of learning as he goes?"
Zelenskiy: "First of all, I'm not your opponent, I'm your challenger. I've been to the counterterror operation zone many times. You're lying, Poroshenko, because I'm a very public person. If someone wanted to conscript me, they could have found me anywhere."
Says he has not been to Russia in some time, then adds: "You've been on the phone with Putin directly or through [Viktor] Medvedchuk countless times. Don't ask me questions that you're supposed to answer, like [about] the war that hasn't ended."
A poll on whose introductory remarks at the debate were better:
Zelenskiy asks first question: "I'm reading a citizen's question. How is it possible that we live in one of the poorest countries in the world, run by one of the richest presidents?"
"Why haven't [members of parliament] had immunity lifted? Why haven't [former President Viktor] Yanukovych's allies not been sentenced?"
Poroshenko: Says part of Zelenskiy's question "shows my opponent's complete incompetence. It implies that military leaders are guilty for deaths."
"It's not our military that is guilty, but [Russian President Vladimir] Putin, who has destroyed our military."
Poroshenko: "You can't imagine the state of the country I took over in 2014. Without a budget, weapons, a military. And you're trying to make Ukraine the object of your jokes. At that time, you were only trying to earn money from your jokes, while we were doing hard work. We Ukrainians have saved the country, we have made a breakthrough to Europe, we have replaced the laws of the Russian markets."
International organizations admitted that we have done more in the past 4 years than in 100 years more. [6:21]
Video from the debate:
Zelenskiy says he is "the result of [Poroshenko's] mistakes and [unrealized] promises."
Poroshenko's five-minute introductory remarks begin.
Poroshenko: "After three long weeks, we managed to drag him into the debate."
"The people finally have a chance to know what the candidate would really do while running a country at war."
"What matters for Ukrainians is to know what to expect in the future, not to smear one another."
"The country needs a strong leader, a leader who is able to continue running the international coalition we have built."
Speaking of 2014, I stepped up when the country needed every volunteer who could help. And where was my opponent? Probably evading conscription. [6:13]
I believe that Mr. Zelenskiy does not want to give up Ukraine, turn us back to Russia. But how is he to stand up to all the intricacies? Next to me, we only have a shell of a person. We don't know what's inside.
Wrapping up his five-minute introductory remarks, Zelenskiy says: "I'm not a politician, I'm just a simple man who came to break this system. I'm the result of your mistakes and missteps, Mr. Poroshenko."