KYIV -- An ally in Ukraine's ruling coalition has quit, calling the alliance a "clans' coalition that brought the nation to the extreme point of destruction."
The leader of the Batkivshchyna (Fatherland) party, Yulia Tymoshenko, made the announcement on February 17 and urged other lawmakers to also walk out of the coalition.
The move comes after lawmakers representing Batkivshchyna and another party, Samopomich (Self-Assistance), boycotted a parliamentary session to protest against Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk's survival in a no-confidence vote.
Samopomich called the February 16 parliament vote "a cynical overthrow of the government" and accused President Petro Poroshenko of taking part in it.
Yatsenyuk survived the no-confidence vote on February 16, hours after Poroshenko called on him to resign "in order to restore trust in the government."
Yatsenyuk said on February 17 that it was essential to reshuffle the ruling coalition, adding that he was in discussions with political groups, including the populist Radical party.