Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma said Monday the ruling of the Supreme Court for a new presidential election runoff this month must be respected, the Interfax news agency reported.

"The Supreme Court has made its ruling and it must be implemented," Kuchma said at a government meeting.

The president also said he was ready to sign a package of amendments to the law on presidential election to ease the political crisis in the country.

Ukrainian Supreme Court on Friday invalidated the Nov. 21 presidential runoff and called for a new vote on Dec. 26.

The court made the ruling after five days of hearing of an appeal demanding invalidation of last month's vote, which the opposition said was rigged in the favor of Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovich.

Yanukovich said Saturday he would contest the presidency in a new runoff vote on Dec. 26 against the opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko.