KYIV, April 17 – A split between Ukrainian leaders may have widened after Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman said he is ready to face his unnamed opponents during an expected showdown in Parliament.

The split emerged after Ihor Kononenko, the First Deputy Head of the Petro Poroshenko Bloc group, on Saturday said the government is to report in parliament in the coming week.

During such report, the prime minister and key ministers defend their performance over the past year. The report usually follows up with a vote of confidence in the government.

But sometimes the measure is used by political opponents as an attempt to dismiss the government. This happens if less that 225 lawmakers vote to support the Cabinet.

The motion is also often used in order to put pressure on the prime minister in order to win some economic or political concessions from the government.

Poroshenko has rarely openly criticized the government, but the fact that Kononenko, a close Poroshenko ally, has raised the issue means that it is the president who may be unhappy with Groysman.

"If someone wants to use the government report we submitted on February 15 against us, they should not be hiding behind the mask, but step out and say that we think you should raise the question of the government's resignation, if they have got any. I am ready to encounter this today," Groysman said on ICTV channel late Monday

Groysman says he is ready to report on his government's performance at any time, adding that speculations about his possible dismissal are simply an attempt to exert pressure on him.

Groysman said two of Parliament’s biggest groups, the People's Front and the Petro Poroshenko Bloc, officially do not support the government's resignation.

"If someone has got [such question], then step out and raise it - I will be ready to respond. And let everyone hear me: if someone believes that such methods can be used to put pressure on me, such people are very mistaken. I'm not afraid of losing my office. I will never lose my honor," Groysman said.

Groysman says he thinks the report by the government in Parliament is a technical issue, and was postponed because MPs of several committees were absent.

"It does not matter, because I am always ready to report. I report alive before the Ukrainian society every quarter, meet with experts who ask questions and give their advice. I am in parliament every week and answer questions from lawmakers," he said. (tl/ez)