Ukraine's Poroshenko agrees to debate with frontrunner Zelensky

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko agreed Thursday to hold an election debate with frontrunner Volodymyr Zelensky at the country's biggest stadium as he seeks to make up lost ground ahead of a run-off vote.

The 41-year-old actor and comedian Zelensky is favourite to become Ukraine's next president after he dominated the first-round vote on March 31 despite many initially dismissing his candidacy as a joke.

The two will meet in a run-off vote on April 21.

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Hours after political novice Zelensky challenged Poroshenko, 53, to hold a debate in a Kiev stadium, the country's largest sports arena, Poroshenko said he was ready to square off with the popular actor.

"(If you want) a stadium, let it be a stadium," Poroshenko said in a video address.

But he also warned that an election debate was no laughing matter and a presidential election would determine the country's fate for decades to come.

"A debate is not a show," Poroshenko said in an apparent jab at Zelensky's lack of political experience.

"A debate is not staged for a stadium spectacle," he added.

Zelensky's political experience had been limited to playing the president in a TV show when he announced his long-shot candidacy at the start of the year.

But he capitalised on frustration over corruption and a stalling economy to leapfrog his establishment opponents.

Addressing Poroshenko, Zelensky listed a number of conditions, saying he should stop calling him a "clown" and a "puppet," a reference to the frontrunner's alleged political ties to oligarch Igor Kolomoisky.

By law, televised election debates are to be held on the last Friday before the second-round runoff, which would be April 19.

With 100 per cent of the ballots counted, Zelensky is ahead with more than 30 per cent of the first-round vote, nearly twice that of Poroshenko, on almost 16 percent.