respects. this is t w news live from berlin he played a president on television now he's the real thing exit polls show comedian football there's the lenski winning a landslide victory in ukraine's presidential runoff incumbent trope or shrink as his seat also coming up shocked and shattered in sri lanka after a wave of devastating bomb attacks on to easter sunday seven blasts ripped through luxury hotels and churches and eight the explosion went off during a police raid the death toll now stands at two hundred seven with hundreds more

injured officials are blaming religious extremist and it made several arrests plath latest column. i'm calling aspen thanks for joining us exit polls from ukraine's presidential election points to a landslide victory for the comedian well the mayor selenski those polls show the challenger won over seventy percent of the vote that's well ahead of incumbent petro poroshenko was already conceded defeat and congratulated the political novice on his big win. he went from playing a president on t.v. to being one in real life this is the moment of law to me as the lenski the new president elect of ukraine found out he had won on the world stage he's just the latest political novice with an affection for social media to sweep aside the old

guard. are very hard thing your thank you everybody so lansky actually studied law at university but never practiced instead opting for a burgeoning comedy career in two thousand and fifteen he began starring as a fictional ukrainian president in the sick servant of the people his own political party was eventually named after the t.v. show. selenski has been the unlikely front runner for most of the election with poll ratings flying high he even went so far as to not show up for one of two scheduled stadium debates against incumbent petro poroshenko. the fact that ukrainians had spent years watching him play it being president may have helped him ascend to the post selenski projected a sense that people could trust him by a supporter sankoh the more experienced candidate was seen as corrupt speaking earlier just after casting his own vote selenski was calm and optimistic. julie who

still today it will be a victory for ukraine the victory of a fair choice we've united the country and now look we've also united the journalists. many ukrainians are looking for something new frustrated by the slow pace of reforms and wearied by a five year conflict in the east of the country selenski they hope will usher in an era of change. joining us from selenski election event in kiev is correspondent nick connelly nick given how how big this victory is for selenski are you surprised at all by this margin by this result. is not just me that surprised lots of selenski supporters seem pretty surprised when it eight o'clock local time the ballot boxes were closed off and suddenly we had the first exit poll there was two or three minutes shouts of kind of excitement a real shock here at selenski selection party this is something that many people

have called off in ukrainian politics especially if you consider that just a couple of months ago zelinsky wasn't even in the running here in the announce that he'd be running for president on new year's eve so this is really something that has showed that is shaken ukraine politics to its core and he really has pulled up through that not many people thought he could. how is the political world in ukraine reacting to that big victory. what we heard from solecki himself at the beginning he was very brief is that something that's been a characteristic of all his campaign a kind of reluctance to engage with journalists he just thanked his team and his family he came to the stage once more and again he was pretty if they sit when it came to talking about who he would make his advisors who would be in his government how he would make that work. ask a pitch for shake a well he very soon can conceded defeat i guess the polls also of such a did that the caption of the two candidates is so pronounced that there isn't much

chance even if those polls are quite hundred percent accurate that gap can still be closed he we understand holds alecky and congratulations on his win let's have a look at what's actually pushing that say. he said to you next month i will leave my post as president of the country. this is what was decided by the majority of ukrainians faves. and i accept this decision because of his i will leave the office of the presidency which but i would like to emphasize i am not leaving politics. supports and go there saying that he does accept that decision let's go back though to selenski in a debate last week we heard him say that he would seek to quote break the system what exactly does that mean what can we expect from selenski now as president. will call this is about two things first it's about generational change so petro

poroshenko and third place units in washington selection of figures that have been at the forefront of ukraine's politics for decades selenski someone who on the one hand is known to almost old ukrainians through his work in show business in act as a comedian who has no baggage of that kind who hasn't been involved in frontline politics or politics of any kind for that matter so he's promising at least basic and a generational restart and his major concern he says is corruption the thing he says is holding ukraine back on realizing on its immense potential this after all is ukraine's is europe's rather poorest country still and he says by fighting corruption bringing people even people with top level involved in politics to account for their corrupt dealings he can help release that you cannot potential and really help ukrainians decent living at home rather than being forced to leave the country as millions of ukrainians have been in recent years leaving the country in the hope of finding decent wages and the ability to provide for their families.

what about internationally and in terms of geo political relationships but selenski stance on russia clearly a country that plays a big role in ukraine. and i think it would be wrong to cool to lead and openly pro russian candidates they would have any other candidates in this race who travel to moscow during the campaign that was something that was considered normal. so in the past before the war in basketball the next issue crimea but as we saw in the first round that doesn't pay off at the ballot box in today's ukraine that was something that didn't do them any favors selenski is certainly in no hurry to show himself as a friend of the kremlin on the one and the other hand he is culturally someone who speaks russian in his private life rather than ukrainian who mixes both languages in his public appearances that something goes down well in more russian speaking parts of this country it's observed europe while he says that personally he is in favor of closer integration and membership of nato in the e.u.

but he will put this down to referendums allow the ukrainian public to decide on that the trouble is having more rather than the geopolitics is actually accusations that he's too close to his call a mostly an oligarch who owns the channel that made selenski famous that is a link that has been causing him considerable trouble in recent weeks and something that doesn't seem to be going anywhere away anytime soon. all right nick connelly reporting there in kiev from selenski headquarters thank you very much. turning now to our other top story in sri lanka where devastating wave of easter sunday bombings has killed at least two hundred seven people and wounded more than four hundred fifty or leaders of condemned the coordinated attacks that targeted buggery hotels and churches where worshipers had gathered for easter services police say thirty two foreign nationals are among the dead most of the eight bombings appear to have been suicide attacks the government is blaming religious extremists and made several arrests but no proof has claimed responsibility so far. just hours

after the series of bomb attacks on churches and luxury hotels sri lankan security forces carry out a raid on a house in the capital colombo a further explosion rips through the building killing three police officers along with the police special task force the sri lankan military has been deployed in the search for the perpetrators of sunday's deadly bombings. prime minister running wickramasinghe paid a visit to one of the three churches that were targeted in the attacks. like the orders have been given to find those responsible for this security services will be given all the powers they want we can't allow these kinds of crimes to take place we will also look into what went wrong. we worry about for the next few days the important thing is to maintain peace that the prime minister has said there had been prior information about possible attacks and that there would be an

investigation to determine why the precautions were not taken and that sears this sunday's massacre could destabilize the country the government has imposed a nationwide curfew and blocked access to social media saying it was necessary to stop the spread of false rumors and to ease tension. but by sunday night police in colombo reported that there had been a petrol bomb attack on a mosque and arson attacks on two shops owned by muslims. for many sri lankans the apparently coordinated attacks have brought back painful memories of the country's long running civil war when bomb blasts were a frequent occurrence. let's get the latest now from sri lanka with jimmy dean editor of news in asia and she is a journalist there in colombo it's getting late in sri lanka what's the situation right now after today's worth advance we are not seeing any more months on the road

except for apply forces and a very heavy police presence in the sky that big company it would also put the parents of course right now there has been a coffee which is that we can bring in tours this is going the same definitely which is why the f. ing nobody on going to what they read but i was there i wonder what that they saw quite a go and if extreme near that city. do we have any more information about the people that are believed to be behind these attacks. right now police here thirteen suspects have been arrested and timing is running become a single it tell us a short while ago that all those of was being arrested on three younger nationals no no group has been named at the moment and the police have said that maybe not name any organization to all they receive nations out compete so we do not have even the slightest idea as to who could be the sponsor behind these attacks and the

community heard about those attacks on hotels that took place in the capital city colombo but two of the three churches that were targeted were in other parts of the country what does that tell us can you tell us anything about a potential motive here. there's basically the church attacks were a clear a clear indication that they were aiming the captaincy question first who had gathered on easter sunday and mind you that all the three churches extremely popular churches in sri lanka that day's a very large gathering so when these attacks these happened in the churches in the morning the immediate information because it was this was an attack to my criticism and this was an attack especially targeting the catholic community so these attacks on the catholic community how christians are catholics in sri lanka felt and he stressed before today's events. yes they have because just last sunday on palm

sunday a church in on there are deploying the center province become under attack by a local group of course the police to conduct the speeding with sickish and. you can be spa stron recap the next half says a sense of insecurity instability and have the government to look into all the text which has taken place and also to prevent such attacks in the future but nobody expected the text which took place today with his kid at least two hundred twenty eight people. long of course a country of many religions christianity is a minority religion there have been religious tensions in the past. definitely in fact in recent years there have been minor incidents targeting minority communities on and also just last year we saw some deadly attacks against the muslim community begin to in the central highlands which prompted the government to

declare state of emergency and there have been minor incidents which have been taking place against the minority time is so there has been cds of continuous attacks which has been taking place in recent years but as i've said before this is one of the worst and one of the deadliest all right geneva national d.n.a. journalist bring us the latest from colombo thank you very much thank you. well the world reacted with shock after the attacks in sri lanka and nicole reese joins me now with more on that nicole what can you tell us well social media today was dominated by these news on the hashtag sri lanka for example you could find it as a trending topic on twitter but they also went to instagram and facebook just to share their solidarity share their grief and their condolences and for example german chancellor angela merkel there were lots of world leaders who took to social media

as well where she posted on instagram and condemned the terrible attacks she said that she was a sad and a shocked and add that as a last sentence that religious hatred and intolerance that have to come apparent today must not win so she's sending a very strong signal there as well on the other hand there is also donald trump who tweeted his condolences he's saying that they're standing ready to help clear message of support and the iranian foreign minister mohammed job out serif took to twitter paying his respects but he also pointed out that terrorism is a global menace with no religion and that was a message that many people shared because many people also said that terrorism has no religion nor nationality it can be anyone who's attacking anyone at any time really it was a very common message today on twitter we have also we had british prime minister to resign may who quote said that we must stand.