Ukraine Faces Economic, Corruption Challenges After Yatsenyuk Resignation

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — On Sunday, Yatsenyuk announced his resignation effective on April 12 amid the ongoing parliamentary crisis in the country. He will be replaced by Volodymyr Groysman, a member of Ukraine President Petro Poroshenko’s bloc.

"They are going through a painful transition away from the previous leadership and trying to create a new approach, a stronger economy, tackling corruption," Durbin said on Tuesday.

Durbin added that "there will be a lot of false starts" in the process of forming a representative government. "But I think they are moving in the right direction."

Durbin noted that he spoke with Yatsenyuk on Monday and thanked him for his service. He commented that Ukraine faces "a major challenge" as it works to rebuild the economy and battle government corruption.

In February, the Ukraine parliamentary crisis escalated when Poroshenko’s governing bloc denounced the work of the cabinet as unsatisfactory. At that time, Yatsenyuk narrowly survived a no-confidence vote, and the country’s economic development minister resigned citing the slow pace of change and widespread government corruption.