MOSCOW – Ukraine’s “orange revolutionaries” gathered one last time in Kiev’s Independence Square yesterday for the swearing in of the country’s new president, Viktor Yushchenko. His inauguration ended more than two months of political crisis over what supporters of Mr. Yushchenko, a Western-leaning reformer, said was massive fraud in an election won by Viktor Yanukovich, the Moscow-backed prime minister.

More than 100,000 cheering supporters gathered yesterday in the square, which for weeks was the scene of massive protests. The demonstrations forced a December 26 election re-run in which Mr. Yushchenko defeated Mr. Yanukovich by eight percentage points.

“The heart of Ukraine was on Independence Square,” Mr. Yushchenko told the crowd after taking the oath of office before the Ukrainian Parliament. “Good people from all over the world, from far away countries, were looking at Independence Square, at us.”

“This is a victory of freedom over tyranny. A victory of law over lawlessness.”

Mr. Yushchenko, his face disfigured by dioxin poisoning he blames on his opponents, spoke from a podium festooned in orange, the trademark color of his campaign. In a 20-minute address, he promised to bring Ukraine, long in Moscow’s sphere of influence, closer to the West.

“Ukraine has opened a new page in the history of Europe. We are now in the center of Europe. Our place is in the European Union,” he said. “Our way to the future is the way of a united Europe. We, along with the people of Europe, belong to one civilization. We share similar values.”

He said that Ukraine – sandwiched between former imperial master Russia and the European Union – would stand up for itself on the world stage.

“Ukraine will not be a buffer zone or a testing ground for anyone else. We are prepared to respect the interests of other states. But for me and for you, national interests are above all else.”

Mr. Yushchenko, a former prime minister and central bank governor, also pledged to end years of corrupt and inept rule, which he blames for Ukraine’s rampant poverty. Ukraine is one of Europe’s poorest countries, with average monthly salaries equivalent to only $100.

“We will create new jobs. Whoever wants to work will have the opportunity to work and get an appropriate salary. We will fight corruption in Ukraine. Taxes will be enforced, business will be transparent … we will become an honest nation.”

Earlier, Mr. Yushchenko took the oath of office before a host of foreign dignitaries, including Secretary of State Powell and NATO’s Secretary-General, Jaap de Hoop Scheffer. Also in attendance were the architect of Czechoslovakia’s “Velvet Revolution,” Vaclav Havel, and the speaker of Georgia’s Parliament, Nino Burdzhanadze, who was among the leaders of protests in 2003 that forced a change of government in her country. Ukraine’s opposition leaders often cite ex-Soviet Georgia’s “Rose Revolution” as an inspiration for their own.

Russia sent a relatively low-level representative, the speaker of its upper house, Sergei Mironov.

In a meeting before the ceremony, Mr. Yushchenko told Mr. Powell that his victory would not have happened “if we didn’t have partners that are advocating democratic principles and shared democratic values.”

He said he was happy “that I have lived to the time when the Ukrainian president is elected not in Moscow, not in Washington, but in Ukraine.”

Mr. Powell assured Mr. Yushchenko that “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. … The United States wants to do everything we can to help you meet the expectations of the Ukrainian people after this turmoil.”

Mr. Yushchenko faces a daunting struggle. Ukraine remains deeply divided between its Ukrainian-speaking west, Mr. Yushchenko’s base of support, and its eastern, Russian-speaking regions.

Those divisions were clear during his swearing-in ceremony. While some lawmakers cheered and chanted his name after Mr. Yushchenko took the oath, others stood stone-faced and silent.

Mr. Yushchenko will also have to walk a fine line with Moscow, which openly backed his opponent. He begins a series of foreign visits today with a trip to Moscow to meet with President Putin. Mr. Putin has said he would be willing to work with Mr. Yushchenko but today’s meeting is expected to be frosty.

After Moscow, he will visit the European Parliament, the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, and attend commemorations in Poland of the Soviet army’s liberation of the Auschwitz death camp.