TEMPO.CO, Kiev - Ukraine's prime minister Arseny Yatseniuk has filed his resignation on Thursday, blaming parliament for failing to pass legislation to take control over an increasingly precarious energy situation and to increase army financing.
Yatseniuk said that the parliament was putting Ukraine's future at risk by blocking legislation, like a bill to allow consortiums with European or U.S. companies to operate Ukraine's ageing gas distribution system and storage facilities. "By not tackling budget spending, it was also putting the lives of Ukraine's soldiers in jeopardy," he said.
"It's unacceptable that because laws have not been passed, we now have no means with which to pay soldiers, doctors, police, we have no fuel for armored vehicles, and no way of freeing ourselves from dependence on Russian gas," he added as cited by Reuters.
Yatsenyuk's resignation is approved by President Petro Poroshenko. "Society wants a full reset of state authorities," Poroshenko said in a statement.
The resignation came after nationalist party Svoboda and the Udar (Punch) party of former boxing champion Vitaly Klitschko withdrew from the majority coalition in parliament. It potentially leaves a hole at the heart of Ukraine, as the nation is struggling to fund the war against pro-Russia rebels and coping with MH 17 incident.
RINDU P. HESTYA | REUTERS