The Petro Poroshenko Bloc will propose Volodymyr Hroisman, who is currently serving as a deputy prime minister and regional development, housing, construction, and utilities minister, as a candidate for the position of chairman of the Ukrainian Verkhovna Rada.

"The Petro Poroshenko Bloc will propose Volodymyr Hroisman as a candidate for speaker," Oksana Prodan, a Rada member representing the Poroshenko Bloc, told journalists in Kyiv on Thursday.

Hroisman himself said he was ready to chair the Rada.

"I am always ready to take on responsibility," Hroisman told journalists on Thursday morning.

He noted, however, that it is "exclusively the Verkhovna Rada" that will ultimately decide who will be its chair.

Hroisman, born in 1978, was appointed deputy prime minister and regional development, housing, construction and utilities minister in February 2014. Before this, he had served as mayor of Vinnytsia for nearly 8 years.

Hroisman started his political career in 2002 by winning in a majority district in elections to the Vinnytsia city council. Hroisman was elected the city council secretary and acting mayor in 2005. He was elected Vinnytsia mayor in March 2006 and reelected in 2010.