UKRAINIAN PRIME MINISTER MAY HAVE TO UNDERGO SURGERY. Pavlo Lazarenko may have to undergo surgery, Interfax-Ukraine reported on 25 June, citing the chief doctor of the hospital in which Lazarenko is hospitalized. "An operation is not ruled out, however the date has not been set yet," he commented. Doctors initially diagnosed exhaustion as the cause of the prime minister's illness, but it has since been reported that he is suffering from "varicose veins and arterial sclerosis." Lazarenko was "temporarily" dismissed by President Leonid Kuchma on 19 June, ostensibly for health reasons. First Deputy Prime Minister Vasily Durdinets was appointed acting prime minister the same day (see End Note, "RFE/RL Newsline," 24 June 1997).