Reforms continue despite 'lunatic' lawmakers: Ukraine PM

The PM also welcomed an announcement that the US military is considering a plan to train Ukrainian army soldiers

Ukraine's Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk, pushed back against a pair of forces threatening to undermine his fragile government, likening members of Ukraine's parliament to "lunatics" while defending a nationalist militia that is locked in a standoff with police.

Yatsenyuk, who was in Washington for meetings with top American officials yesterday, also welcomed an announcement that the US military is considering a plan to train Ukrainian army soldiers. He suggested he was optimistic the US would also start sending weapons that Ukraine says it needs to defend itself against Russian aggression.

Yatsenyuk's US visit came amid growing global concerns over proposed legislation in Ukraine's parliament that would water down economic reforms demanded by the international community. A day earlier, the International Monetary Fund insisted that Ukraine must "stay the course," suggesting that rolling back the reforms could jeopardise the IMF's USD 40 billion support package for Ukraine.

Yatsenyuk, in an interview, predicted none of those controversial bills would reach the floor of the parliament. If they do, he insisted, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko will veto them.

"In every parliament, you have populists. Sometimes they look like lunatics," Yatsenyuk told The Associated Press. "This government and this president are determined and committed to our reform agenda."

At the White House, President Barack Obama echoed the need for Ukraine to stick with austerity measures during a meeting Monday with Yatsenyuk and Vice President Joe Biden. The White House said Obama and Biden welcomed Ukraine's "strong stand against populist measures that could undermine Ukraine's financial stability."

"The pressure is on the parliament to keep moving forward and to not slip backward," US Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker said in an interview on the sidelines of a US-Ukraine business forum. "These are hard choices. The prime minister feels the pressure. But as long as they're moving forward, they're not alone."

As Yatsenyuk pushed for more US investment, security forces in western Ukraine were locked in conflict with the nationalist Right Sector militia, which has accused local police of smuggling contraband across the border with Poland, Hungary and Slovakia.