VIKTOR YUSHCHENKO promised to lead Ukraine into the European Union yesterday as he was sworn in as President, completing the Orange Revolution that tore the former Soviet republic out of Russia’s strategic fold.

Mr Yushchenko told hundreds of thousands of cheering supporters that he would end more than 13 years of post- Soviet kleptocracy and make Ukraine an honest nation.

He took the oath of office in parliament in front of dignitaries such as Colin Powell, the US Secretary of State, and Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, the Nato Secretary-General, highlighting Ukraine’s geopolitical lurch westwards.

Also attending were Vaclav Havel, the figurehead of the 1989 Velvet Revolution in Czechoslovakia, and Nino Burdzhanadze, Georgia’s parliamentary Speaker, who was a leader of the Rose Revolution there in 2003 that inspired Ukraine’s demonstrators. Then, with an icy wind blowing, Mr Yushchenko addressed a vast crowd of orange-swathed supporters on Independence Square in Kiev, site of the protests that almost split the nation last year.

“This is a victory of freedom over tyranny. The victory of law over lawlessness,” he declared as he stood in front of the Independence Monument. “Our way to the future is the way of a united Europe. We, along with the people of Europe, belong to one civilisation. We share similar values.

“Our place is in the European Union,” he continued, his American-born wife standing with their five children near by. “We are no longer on the edge of Europe. We are situated in the centre of Europe.”

Ukraine, a country of 40 million people between Russia and the West, would no longer be a buffer zone or a testing ground for any other country, he insisted.

It was an emotional moment for the vast throngs who braved freezing temperatures and the threat of a violent crackdown to demonstrate in the streets after Viktor Yanukovych, then the Prime Minister, was declared the winner of a rigged election in November.

“I dreamt of this day for so long,” said Irina Araslanova, 21, one of several hundred students who built a tent camp on the main avenue leading to the square. “We’ve finally got rid of those bandits in power and shown Russia that we are an independent country.” As she spoke, orange balloons and glitter filled the air.

Mr Yanukovych had been handpicked by the outgoing President Kuchma and was openly backed by President Putin of Russia, who was alarmed by Mr Yushchenko’s plans to seek membership of Nato, as well as the EU.

Yet, after two weeks of protests, the Supreme Court overturned Mr Yanukovych’s victory on the ground of massive election fraud and called for a revote on Boxing Day. Mr Yushchenko won that ballot by eight percentage points.

It was an humiliating defeat for Mr Putin, already under fire for the Beslan school siege and the break-up of Yukos, the oil giant, and sparked fears of copycat movements in other former Soviet republics.

Mr Putin, who is facing an unprecedented wave of protests over welfare reforms, has pledged to work with Mr Yushchenko, but pointedly sent only Sergei Mironov, the Speaker of the Federation Council, the Upper House of the Russian parliament, to represent him in Kiev yesterday. By contrast, the presidents of seven former communist states — Poland, Romania, Hungary, Slovakia, Estonia, Latvia and Moldova — attended the ceremonies. General Powell offered Washington’s explicit support in bilateral talks with Mr Yushchenko before the inauguration.

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