KIEV, Dec. 10 – Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko on Wednesday attacked President Viktor Yushchenko for allegedly trying to destroy her coalition and pledged to take unspecified tough steps to make sure the coalition survives.

Tymoshenko’s comments, made in a televised address to the nation, underscore the level of hostility between the two, suggesting the prime minister-led coalition may at some point clash with the president.

“Let me state that I will personally be saving this Parliament, the newly created coalition,” Tymoshenko said in the address late Wednesday. “I will never let anybody bully Parliament and the country that we have seen over the past several months.”

“Any presidential election is not worth it for political adventurists throwing the country into abyss of confrontation and chaos,” Tymoshenko said, adding the coalition has been created despite “active resistance” from the president.

Tymoshenko, seen as Yushchenko’s rival at the next presidential election due either late 2009 or early 2010, has been earlier criticizing the president.

But her latest comments go far beyond the usual criticism suggesting that Tymoshenko has been preparing a platform to run for the presidency.

Tymoshenko relied on the Communist Party, a vehemently pro-Russian group, for approving Volodymyr Lytvyn as the speaker of Parliament on Tuesday, a move that underscores the coalition’s weakness.

In July, Tymoshenko relied on the Communist Party to survive a no-confidence vote, later awarding the party with two seats in the government, including a seat of a deputy justice minister.

Meanwhile, the newly created coalition does not control the majority of seats in Parliament, suggesting the government may have difficult time in pushing important legislation through Parliament.

Yushchenko, who had been pushing for Ivan Pliushch, his long-time ally, to be appointed to the speaker post, on Wednesday congratulated Lytvyn with the election to the post.

“I hope that the election of such experienced and balanced politician as Volodymyr Mykhaylovych to this responsible post will let unblock the work of the legislation,” Yushchenko said in a statement.

But Yushchenko insisted the coalition must be created “de-jure and de-facto,” suggesting that he was not happy with the way the coalition had been created on Tuesday.

Lytvyn announced Tuesday that the Tymoshenko Bloc, Our Ukraine-People’s Self-defense and the Lytvyn Bloc created the coalition.

But the number of those backing the coalition was reported at 214, well short of 226 seats that are needed to approve legislation in the 450-seat Parliament, as Yushchenko’s supporters within Our Ukraine had refused to back Tymoshenko.

Ksenia Liapina, a member of Our Ukraine and a Yushchenko loyalist, said that the three groups will have to sign a coalition agreement before December 15, within four days after the creation of the coalition had been announced.

This means that Our Ukraine, whose leaders are loyal to Yushchenko, may come up with several proposals that can delay the coalition.

“Tomorrow at a group meeting we will put forward our proposals concerning the coalition agreement,” Liapina said. (tl/ez)