So yesterday I post a note on the resignation of Zinchenko and the deepening crisis in Ukraine, and a short while ago today word comes that Viktor Yushchenko has sacked the Tymoshenko government.

Yushchenko appointed Yuriy Yekhanurov, governor of eastern Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, as acting prime minister.

Yekhanurov says a key priority will be to ensure stability. Yekhanurov worked from 1994-97 under President Leonid Kuchma as head of the State Property Fund, which oversaw the initial period of privatization in Ukraine.

Yushchenko blamed the absence of what he called "team spirit" for dismissing the government of Prime Minister Yuliya
Tymoshenko. He said interdepartmental conflicts were damaging the government.

"Every day I witnessed more and more confrontations among these institutions at first, then serious conflicts on various
issues, then backstage intrigues, which already started to affect the fundamentals of state policies," he said.

As I have said, the government formed after the Orange Revolution was a coalition, almost a unity government that included many disparate parties. This has obviously worked badly for Yushchenko over the summer. It takes some courage to put a powerful person like Tymoshenko into opposition, but this will no doubt burnish Yushchenko's credentials as the one with clean hands.

In fact, the sacking was overdue. Nonetheless, I can't say I saw it coming on this fast.

UPDATE: Dobre din, Instapundit readers! And dyakyu, Glenn!