Ukraine's government survives no confidence vote

Ukraine's President Petro Poroshenko (REUTERS)

The government of Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk has survived a no confidence vote.

The motion got 194 votes in the Verkhovna Rada Tuesday, falling short of the 226 votes required to oust the Cabinet.

An approval of the motion would likely have led to the collapse of the ruling coalition and early parliamentary elections, which could have further destabilized the struggling economy.

Before the vote, President Petro Poroshenko urged Yatsenyuk to step down and called for a "total reformatting" of the Cabinet, but said that he would try to preserve the coalition to prevent early elections. He warned that its breakup would trigger a long political crisis that would only please Russia.