Under amendments to the Ukrainian Constitution that came into force in January, the government and parliament assumed a number of the president's former powers, including the right to appoint and dismiss Cabinet members and regional governors.
"The Ukrainian president wants to discuss the resignation of five heads of regional administrations," a presidential representative to the Cabinet said.
Arseniy Yatsenyuk, who is also a newly appointed Yushchenko secretariat deputy chief-of-staff, delivered Yushchenko's message urging "a constructive approach" to the issue to a Cabinet session attended by country's regional governors.
Yushchenko, who was expected at the session, failed to attend.
The government has tendered the resignations of five of Ukraine's 25 governors, and is expected to make a decision later in the day. The list of those to be reshuffled includes the governors of the Poltava, Ternopil, Kharkiv, Kherson, and Chernihiv regions.
In the latest clash over the distribution of powers, Prime Minister Viktor Yanukoych proposed last week that the powers of the country's president and government be clarified.
"That authority has not been properly clarified yet," he said. "The formation of the parliamentary-presidential system is ongoing."
Yanukoych, himself a former regional governor, was appointed prime minister in August for a second time. He said a lot remained to be done, and that "the process will be complicated and controversial."
Yanukovych said a lack of clarity prevents the government from functioning normally.
