Ukrainian Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovich Saturday urged renewed talks with President Viktor Yushchenko to end the nation's ongoing political crisis.

Yushchenko announced a new decree on Wednesday, which postpones the May 27 elections to June 24.

Yanukovich told a press conference that this new decree has undermined talks launched after the first decree in early April. He demanded an immediate end to "pressure" which he alleged to have been exerted on courts, election officials and the security forces.

In Wednesday's televised speech, Yushchenko said that it was impossible to hold parliamentary elections in May as first proposed, since the Central Election Commission could not operate normally due to insufficient staff.

"If we sit down and come to the conclusion that elections are truly necessary, then such a decision will be taken," Yanukovich said.

A week ago, Yanukovich said that the crisis could be resolved only by holding simultaneous parliamentary and presidential elections.

Yushchenko issued an order on April 2 to dissolve parliament and hold early elections on May 27. Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovich and his ruling coalition in the parliament defied the order and appealed to the 18-judge Constitutional Court.

The Constitutional Court on Tuesday opened a hearing on the legality of the president's order, but due to the wide divergence between the two opposing camps the court found it hard to deliver a prompt ruling, said Chief Judge Ivan Dombrovsky.

The current political turmoil in Ukraine emerged last month when 11 lawmakers from pro-presidential factions defected to Prime Minister Yanukovich's ruling coalition, moving it closer to a 300-seat, veto-proof majority in the parliament that could allow Yanukovich's allies to change the Constitution.

Yushchenko called the defection illegal, saying the law permits only blocs, not individual lawmakers, to switch sides.

Both sides have agreed to abide by whatever the court rules.