Kyiv Parliament OKs New Cabinet

The Ukrainian parliament has approved a new government to be headed by Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk.

The proposed cabinet received a total of 288 votes from some 420 deputies in the Verkhovna Rada.

The approval comes five weeks after early parliamentary elections won by pro-Western parties.

Five political parties agreed last month to form a coalition government, which vows to pass an extensive program of reforms.

Yatsenyuk has served as prime minister since February, shortly after pro-Moscow President Viktor Yanukovych fled the country.

The parliament voted earlier to reappoint Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin and Defense Minister Stepan Poltorak, whose posts are selected by President Petro Poroshenko.

Yatsenyuk’s government includes Finance Minister Natalya Yaresko, a U.S. national who previously worked at the State Department and who first received Ukrainian citizenship on December 2.

With reporting by AP