Prime Minister Mykola Azarov and his entire goverment resigned today in a bid to defuse Ukraine's deadly crisis, giving in to months of pressure as parliament scrapped anti-protest laws that had infuriated the opposition.
Azarov said he had taken a "personal decision" to resign to keep Ukraine together as a state, as parliament met in an emergency session to vote on reforms and amendments backed by President Viktor Yanukovych.
Parliament overwhelmingly voted to scrap anti-protest laws that sparked the current crisis when the ruling party pushed them through the Verkhovna Rada in a shambolic show-of-hands vote on January 16.
The dramatic twists in Ukraine's two months of turmoil came as Russian President Vladimir Putin met with EU chiefs at a summit in Brussels expected to be dominated by the turmoil.
The European Union and United States cranked up pressure on Yanukovych to impose serious reforms to end a standoff that has turned parts of Kiev into a war zone patrolled by masked protesters and that has left three activists dead.
In a morning announcement that took the opposition by surprise, Azarov yielded to months of pressure from the opposition who made his resignation a key demand of protests based in Independence Square in Kiev.
Azarov said that he hoped his resignation would create "an additional possibility for a political compromise to peacefully resolve the conflict".
"Today the most important thing is to preserve the unity and integrity of Ukraine," he said.
A decree issued Yanukovych confirmed he had accepted the resignation of Azarov and of the entire government. The current cabinet will remain in place as caretakers until a new government is appointed.
The leader of the UDAR (Punch) party, world boxing champion Vitali Klitschko, said Azarov's move would only partially satisfy the opposition.
"This is not victory but a step to victory," said Klitschko.
The opposition still wants to oust Yanukovych from power, possibly through early elections which are currently due only in 2015.
