President threatens to call snap poll

Ukraine's President Viktor Yushchenko threatened yesterday to call an early parliamentary election after he said the country's coalition government had collapsed.

Yushchenko accused his prime minister, Yulia Tymoshenko, of wrecking the ruling coalition by joining forces with his rivals.

The pro-Western Yushchenko is hoping to steer his former Soviet republic of 47 million people towards NATO and EU membership.