KIEV, Ukraine (AP) -- President Leonid Kuchma has ordered the foreign and defense ministries to develop a plan for withdrawing Ukraine's troops from Iraq within the first half of the year, a statement from the president's office said.
Ukraine, whose 1,650 troops are the fourth-largest contingent in the U.S.-led military operation in Iraq, has previously expressed intentions to withdraw this year, but the order speeds up the apparent timetable.
The order came a day after eight Ukrainian soldiers died in an explosion at an ammunition dump in Iraq, which was reported as an accident rather than as the result of hostile action.
In all, 16 Ukrainian soldiers have died in Iraq,
"The situation in Iraq has deteriorated and as a consequence we lost our men," acting Defense Minister Oleksandr Kuzmuk was quoted as saying by the Interfax news agency after meeting with Kuchma, adding that the withdrawal could begin as early as March.
Although Kuchma is expected to leave office within days to be replaced by Viktor Yushchenko, the winner of last month's presidential elections according to preliminary results, the change of leadership is unlikely to affect Ukraine's policy on Iraq. Yushchenko has also promised a withdrawal.
His campaign manager, Oleksandr Zinchenko, said Monday that withdrawal was a difficult procedure, burdened with political, finance, military and diplomatic details, but stressed that the issue would be one of Yushchenko's top concerns.
"I can only say that the promise that ... Yushchenko made to the Ukrainian people would be kept," Interfax quoted him as saying.
