Lawmakers voted by 257 to 50 to approve the resignation of Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk — condemned by President Petro Poroshenko for losing the public’s trust — and select Groysman in the first cabinet overhaul since Ukraine’s 2014 pro-EU revolt.
“We have to end the crisis and ensure the permanence of our course toward European integration and the resumption of economic growth,” the 38-year-old Groysman told deputies shortly before the vote.
“We have to accelerate the pace of reforms. I would like to see this government restore the public’s trust.”
Poroshenko himself called Groysman “a politician from a new generation” who could tackle “the real possibility of Ukraine turning into a state of chaos.”
Groysman’s appointment comes with Ukraine embroiled in a separatist insurgency in the east that has claimed nearly 9,200 lives and suffering an economic meltdown that has erased people’s savings and saw inflation soar above 40 percent last year.
Ukraine’s youngest-ever premier will also have to demonstrate quick returns on a fight against corruption that has permeated all levels of government and was one of the factors behind three months of protests that brought down the government in February 2014, AFP reported.
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