Prime Minister of Ukraine Yulia Tymoshenko, who reached a natural gas price deal yesterday with the Russian Premier Putin, believes that governors who withhold payments for gas are undermining Ukraine’s independence.

Yatsenyuk's candidacy was put forth by the factions of Yulia Tymoshenko's Bloc and the Our Ukraine-People's Self-Defense Bloc. The two parties formed a majority coalition in parliament on Nov. 29.

Ukrainian opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko resigned Thursday as a member of her eponymous bloc in parliament. Supreme Rada Speaker Oleksandr Moroz read out her letter of resignation from the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc (YTB) at a morning session earlier Thursday.

President Viktor Yushchenko and other political leaders can overcome the political crisis in Ukraine by agreeing that a new ballot is the only way to overcome the nearly four-week-old political stalemate. That is the compromise suggested by premier to hold early parliamentary elections.