KIEV: Ukraine’s parliament said yesterday it had yet to receive a resignation letter from Prime Minister Arseny Yatseniuk so could not vote on whether to accept it, stalling work at the heart of government.
Yatseniuk, a key interlocutor of the West during much of the turmoil in the country since November, announced he was quitting on Thursday, saying parliament was betraying the people’s demands for change by failing to pass legislation.
The move by an ally of former prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko could hamstring decision-making as Ukraine struggles to fund a war against pro-Russian rebels and deals with the aftermath of a passenger plane crash. Oleksander Turchinov, speaker of the parliament, said Yatseniuk’s letter of resignation had been sent from government but had yet to be received by parliament.
An aide to President Petro Poroshenko, Oleksander Danilyuk, said the resignation should not hurt what Kiev calls its “anti-terrorist operation” against rebels in eastern Ukraine.
Artillery fire echoed around the rebel stronghold of Donetsk yesterday for the third day, as rebels fortified defences and Ukrainian troops moved to squeeze them further.
Local health officials said 14 people had been killed in the last 24 hours In the Donetsk region.
Kiev said it had taken the town of Lysychansk, northwest of the second separatist bastion of Luhansk.
A spokesman for Ukraine’s Security Council said 13 soldiers had been killed in the last 24 hours, taking the total death toll to 325 since the start of fighting against the rebels who say they want independence for the Donbass region.
Reuters
