Ukrainian PM quits, parties force new election

Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseny Yatseniuk (R) walks after addressing parliament in Kiev, July 24, 2014. [Photo/Agencies]

Morale has also sunk in Kiev since the downing of a Malaysian airliner in rebel-held territory in eastern Ukraine last week, even though Ukrainian forces are making headway in the military campaign against the separatists.

Poroshenko welcomed the decision by the nationalist party Svoboda and the Udar (Punch) party of former boxing champion Vitaly Klitschko to withdraw from the majority coalition in parliament.

"Society wants a full reset of state authorities," Poroshenko said in a statement, adding that the move showed that those who decided to quit the coalition were following the will of the people.

Politicians and pro-European activists have complained that while Ukraine has a new president, it has yet to elect a new parliament since the toppling of Yanukovich in February, and accuse his supporters of hampering its work.

Yatseniuk said that by blocking legislation, like a bill to allow consortiums with European or US companies to operate Ukraine's ageing gas distribution system and storage facilities, parliament was putting Ukraine's future at risk.

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 said.

"Those people who are sitting there under fire, can we just think of them?"