Ukraine government survives no-confidence vote

(Vatican Radio) The government of Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk survived a no-confidence vote on Tuesday though a majority of lawmakers harshly criticized its work.

Earlier in the day Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko asked the  prime minister and prosecutor-general to resign to "restore trust in the government". As regional correspondent Stefan Bos reports, the political crisis came amid fresh fighting in eastern Ukraine that killed several Ukrainian servicemen.

 Listen: 

Outside Parliament in Kiev protesters demanded his resignation. Inside the building Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk wasn't welcomed either. Ukrainian President Poroshenko urged him to step down saying the prime minister had lost the support of the ruling coalition, which includes Poroshenko's own party, the Poroshenko Bloc.

The Poroshenko Bloc announced it would vote in the parliament that the government’s work has been “unsatisfactory” after several officials resigned over a perceived lack of reforms and ongoing corruption. 

The latest standoff comes also as authorities struggle handle fresh fighting between Ukrainian government forces and Russian-backed separatists.

Kiev said that at least three of its servicemen were killed and seven others wounded in the past 24 hours in clashes with Russia-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine.

Officials of Ukraine, Russia and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe were due to meet Wednesday in Belarus to discuss the difficult road to peace.

More than 9,000 people have been killed and as many as 1.5 million people are believed to have been displaced since the conflict began in April 2014.