Ukrainian prime minister resigns

ANKARA

Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk announced his resignation Sunday in a live TV broadcast.

“I took the decision to resign as prime minister of Ukraine,” he said. “On Tuesday, April 12, I will submit it to parliament. My decision is based on a several reasons - the political crisis in the government has been unleashed artificially, the desire to change one person has blinded politicians and paralyzed their will to bring about real changes in the country.”

Referring to the fighting with Russian-backed separatists in the east of the country, Yatsenyuk tweeted that the “destabilization of executive branch” could not be allowed “during a war”.

Yatsenyuk has been in office since former President Viktor Yanukovych was ousted in February 2014.

He was asked to resign earlier this year by President Petro Poroshenko who said Yatsenyuk had lost support.

Yatsenyuk said his People’s Front would remain in the coalition government as “the only way to defend the state.”

Parliamentary Speaker Volodymyr Groysman has been nominated as the new prime minister.

During his time in office Yatsenyuk has lead the Ukraine in confrontation with Russia following the annexation of Crimea and Moscow’s support for separatists in the east. According to the UN, 9,000 have died in fighting in the Donbas region.

The prime minister survived a no-confidence motion in February but a divided coalition and corruption scandals caused discord and delayed the distribution of aid under a $17.5 billion International Monetary Fund bailout scheme.