!!! BREAKING !!!
This just in:
The Ukrainian parliament has approved a new government to be headed by Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk. The vote comes five weeks after early parliamentary elections won by pro-Western parties.
(RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service, AP)
More details to follow...
This just in from RFE/RL's news desk:
Ukrainian lawmakers have overwhelmingly approved the reappointment of Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin and Defense Minister Stepan Poltorak.
The December 2 vote came after President Petro Poroshenko praised the two ministers for their work amid the crisis in eastern Ukraine with pro-Russian separatists.
According to the constitution, Poroshenko nominates the defense and foreign ministers.
A vote on the rest of the cabinet of Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk is also expected to take place on December 2.
Klimkin has been serving as foreign minister since June and Poltorak has been defense minister since October.
Poroshenko wrote on Facebook earlier on December 2 that he had signed a decree on granting Ukrainian citizenship to three foreign nationals -- American Natalya Yaresko, Georgian Aleksandr Kvitashvili, and Lithuanian Aivaras Abromavicius.
Media reports say the three could join the new cabinet as finance, health, and economy ministers.
(Interfax, TASS, AP, UNIAN)