KIEV (UKRAINE) - Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko on Tuesday asked embattled Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk and the country's controversial prosecutor general to resign because both had lost the public's trust.
Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk
"In order to restore trust in the government, the president asked the prosecutor general and the prime minister to quit," presidential spokesman Svyatoslav Tsegolko tweeted.
Poroshenko said in a separate statement that the government needed a complete reboot after failing to follow through on the reforms it promised during the former Soviet republic's 2014 pro-EU revolt.
"It is not clear that successful reforms can only be conducted by a government that enjoys sufficiently high public support?" Poroshenko said in the statement on the presidential website.
"In order to restore trust, therapy is no longer enough -- you need surgery."
Poroshenko said that all four parties that comprise parliament's current pro-Western coalition should take part "in a complete cabinet reshuffle".
The 41-year-old Yatsenyuk was a bitter Russian critic who had endeared himself to the West by promoting belt-tightening measures that could return growth to the former Soviet state.
But his vows to clean up the government by cutting its ties to shadowy tycoons soon fell flat with voters who accused him of defending the interests of the very billionaires he had vowed to sideline.
Ukraine's prosecutor general Viktor Shokin was seen as a close Poroshenko ally who became a lightning rod of discontent for allegedly refusing to investigate corruption cases purportedly involving senior officials charged with fighting graft.
Shokin was dealt an especially painful blow when a raid on the homes of two high-ranking prosecutors in July uncovered large quantities of diamonds and cash.