"We have just voted at a coalition session to return to the original lineup," said Vasiliy Kisilev of Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych's Party of Regions, which leads the parliamentary coalition.
Political tensions in the ex-Soviet state intensified after 11 lawmakers defected to the coalition, bringing it closer to a 300-seat constitutional majority in the 450-member Supreme Rada with the ability to override presidential vetoes.
Yushchenko has since ordered the dissolution of the Supreme Rada and called early elections May 27, but lawmakers have defied the order, saying they will wait for a Constitutional Court ruling on the matter.
Kisilev said the coalition would again number 238 people, including 186 members of the Party of Regions, 21 Communists and 31 Socialists.
He said the lawmakers who quit pro-presidential Our Ukraine bloc and the opposition Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc would remain in parliament outside any factions and would vote independently.
"We have removed this issue [from the agenda] as it triggered a negative reaction from the president, and have taken a step toward [a compromise with] the president," Kisilev said.
Yushchenko, who has accused the coalition of breaking power-sharing agreements and violating the Constitution, refused to cancel the dissolution of parliament Thursday and threatened criminal prosecution for officials defying his orders.
In another concession to the president earlier Friday, the legislature backed the Yushchenko-proposed bill to allow foreign troops to take part in exercises on Ukrainian territory in 2007.
The Supreme Rada's 237 out of 260 lawmakers present voted for the bill, which was turned down Wednesday, when the legislature also passed a series of resolutions in defiance of other presidential decrees, including one banning the government to finance new elections.
The bill permits the presence of Russian, Slovak, Belgian, U.S. and other NATO troops in Ukraine, which will host five international exercises this year, including Sea Breeze in July-August.
The arrival of a U.S. cargo ship in the Crimea autonomy for the same event last summer triggered mass protests in the region, prompting parliament to ban foreign troop presence in Ukraine. Parliamentary permission is now required to hold joint exercises.
Yushchenko has pushed to integrate his country into NATO and the European Union. The Russia-friendly Yanukovych has been more cautious on the issues. The two have been locked in a struggle for power since Yanukovych's party won the March 2006 parliamentary elections.
