In another blow to Ukraine's Western-backed reform drive, the Georgia-born national police chief Khatia Dekanoidze announced her resignation on November 14, on the eve of anti-government protests due to take place in the capital Kyiv and other cities.

Dekanoidze, one of a team of experienced outsiders brought in to help the country's new government under President Petro Poroshenko since 2014, said she was leaving one week after former Georgian president Mikheil Saakashvili resigned as governor of the Odesa region. Others key figures from abroad who came and went in the past two years include US-born ex-finance minister Natalie Jaresko, and Lithuanian ex-economy minister Aivaras Abramovicius, the latter citing corruption as the reason.

"I created a foundation for the development of a new national police in the course of one year," Interfax news agency quoted 39-year-old Dekanoidze as saying. "I stayed loyal to you and your interests until the last minute of my work. But unfortunately, my powers and will were not sufficient for sharp changes. I've done my duty, and therefore I announce my resignation."

Interior Minister Arsen Avakov immediately accepted her resignation, an unnamed source in the ministry told Interfax news agency. Dekanoidze, who srved briefly as Georgia's minister for education and science in 2012, served a year and one week as chief of the restyled Ukrainian police force.

Dekanoidze made her statement as the national police were due to be put on alert during anti-government protests scheduled for November 15-27 in Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities.

On November 14, a group of around 300 protesters already blocked the building of the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) in the capital, demanding to dismiss the head of the establishment Valeriya Gontareva.

As expected, the protests will be headed by both pro-Western Batkivschyna (Fatherland) party headed by former prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko and members of the pro-Russian Opposition Bloc.

Earlier, the SBU security service, controlled by Poroshenko, accused Russia of attempting the situation in Ukraine through instigating mass protests. "We are taking preventive measures together with other law enforcement agencies," SBU said in a statement. "This is always carried out before public events."

On November 7, Dekanoidze's close associate Saakashvili announced his decision to resign as Odesa governor with claims that Poroshenko has been personally supporting corrupt powerful clans in the key coastal region on the Black Sea.