Grigory Vasilenko / RIA Novosti

Oleksandr Turchynov (Batkivshchyna faction) was elected as the new speaker of the Verkhovna Rada, UNIAN reports. As UNIAN correspondent reports, 288 out of 326 people's deputies registered in the session hall voted for this decision.

People's Deputy Petro Poroshenko withdrew his candidacy for the post of speaker in favor of Turchynov. At the same time, according to the correspondent of LB.ua, Petro Poroshenko and Arseniy Yatsenyuk are the main contenders for the post of Prime Minister of Ukraine.

Turchynov said he is ready to write a resignation letter if it is necessary for consolidated work. He is ready to do this immediately after the election of the coalition government, Insider reports. Now, he is convinced, it is necessary to complete the process of forming a coalition government and restore the work of state authorities in the country.

On Saturday morning, Verkhovna Rada Speaker Volodymyr Rybak wrote a statement of resignation due to illness. The Rada supported Rybak's dismissal, with 326 people's deputies voting for this decision. In addition, the parliament supported the recall of First Vice Speaker Igor Kaletnik from his post. 329 deputies voted for this decision.

Meanwhile, a congress of deputies of all levels of the south-eastern regions of Ukraine and Crimea has begun in Kharkov. As reported by the correspondent of the Interfax-Ukraine agency, the delegates of the congress greeted the head of the Kharkov regional state administration, Mikhail Dobkin, with standing ovations and whistles.

The regional leader ignored the press's question about whether he knew where Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych was, who, according to some reports, was planning to take part in the congress and had arrived in Kharkov for this purpose.

Earlier it was reported that Yanukovych was in Kharkov and would sign the laws adopted the day before by the Verkhovna Rada.

The opposition parties UDAR and Batkivshchyna propose that the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine adopt a resolution on Saturday demanding the resignation of the country's president, Viktor Yanukovych. "We are putting forward an initiative to adopt a resolution of the Verkhovna Rada that will require Viktor Yanukovych to resign, which will become the basis for calling early elections. They must take place, according to the Constitution of Ukraine, no later than May 25," said the leader of the UDAR party, Vitali Klitschko.

The leader of the Batkivshchyna faction, Arseniy Yatsenyuk, for his part, stated that the basis for Yanukovych’s resignation is the failure to sign laws adopted by the Verkhovna Rada after the political crisis worsened.

New Speaker of the Verkhovna Rada Elected