Ukrainian PM Yatsenyuk to remain in office; Parliament rejects resignation

KIEV, Ukraine, Aug. 1 (UPI) -- Ukraine's Parliament met in a closed-door special session on Thursday to discuss, in part, the resignation submitted a week earlier by Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk.

The majority of the 311 lawmakers present supported a confidence vote in Yatsenyuk's leadership.

Yatsenyuk submitted his unexpected resignation on July 24 after two political parties -- Svoboda and Udar -- withdrew from the Parliament's majority coalition and Parliament failed to pass energy and military funding bills. Enraged and frustrated by Parliament's slow response to pressing issues, Yatsenyuk asked the lawmakers that day "how are we to pay wages, how are we tomorrow morning going to send fuel for armored vehicles, how will we pay those families who have lost soldiers, to look after the army?"

President Petro Poroshenko, who took part in the special session at the Verkhovna Rada and had encouraged Yastenyuk to remain prime minister, applauded the confidence vote.

"I'm happy with the result of our combined efforts. ... This clearly confirms that the attitude of the deputies to Ukraine, Ukrainian people, Ukrainian army is independent of whether the coalition in parliament exists or not."