Outgoing Ukrainian President Mr Leonid Kuchma ordered officials today to draw up plans to withdraw the country's contingent of troops from Iraq in the first half of 2005.
A spokeswoman said Mr Kuchma gave the order in a meeting with his defence and foreign ministers after eight Ukrainian soldiers and one Kazakh were killed in a blast in Iraq yesterday.
The blast was Ukraine 's worst incident in 10 years of participating in international peacekeeping operations.
It had been a foregone conclusion that Ukraine would eventually withdraw its 1,600 troops from Iraq, since both president-elect Mr Viktor Yushchenko and his opponent in an election last month said they wanted to bring them home.
But no timeline for the withdrawal had been spelled out and Mr Kuchma gave no order until Monday.
The country's new Western-leaning leader, Mr Yushchenko, was close to taking power at last today, but an 11th-hour bid by his opponent to challenge last month's election held up a final declaration of the winner.
The election commission had said it would certify the result today, ending more than two weeks of political limbo and confirming Mr Yushchenko's victory in a rerun of a rigged poll.
But the commission's meeting was halted after Mr Yushchenko's opponent, former Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovich, brought yet another challenge before the Supreme Court. Mr Yushchenko has said the challenges are "torturing the nation".
Mr Yanukovich has vowed to fight the election result despite saying he has no hope of success.