Arseniy Yatsenyuk received lawmakers' approval to remain Ukraine's prime minister, clearing an obstacle for aid talks with the International Monetary Fund as the country grapples with a separatist insurgency in the east.
Yatsenyuk, 40, was backed by 341 lawmakers in the 450-seat legislature Thursday, the result of an alliance between five pro-European parties after elections on Oct. 26. The coalition is supported by 302 lawmakers.
Ukraine is struggling with the deepest recession since 2009 as the military conflict with pro-Russian militants in the eastern regions of Donetsk and Luhansk disrupts production in its industrial heartland. The government is seeking to draw $2.8 billion from a $17 billion IMF loan by year's end to stabilize an economy ravaged by the insurgency, a 45 percent slump in the hryvnia and central bank reserves plunging to the lowest level in almost a decade.