The Ukrainian parliament was due to appoint Arseniy Yatsenyuk, a key figure in the protests that led to the ousting of president Viktor Yanukovych, as interim prime minister on Thursday.
Mr. Yatsenyuk (39) and other proposed cabinet members were nominated by anti-government protest leaders on Wednesday who presented them from the stage on Kiev’s Independence Square, the base for the demonstrations that led to the departure of Mr. Yanukovych on the weekend.
The political developments in Kiev come after Russia announced a combat-readiness drill along the border with Ukraine.
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Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu said the drills were “by and large” not linked to events in Kiev.
The manoeuvres were criticized by the US, however, with Secretary of State John Kerry saying any kind of military intervention in Ukraine would be a “grave mistake,” the Washington Post reported.