Kiev, Ukraine, March 22, SPA -- President Viktor Yushchenko hassigned the order for withdrawing Ukraine's troops fromIraq, the head of the country's security council saidTuesday _ cementing a pledge by the new leadership to bringback its 1,650-strong force. Ukraine began pulling out its servicemen from Iraq lastweek and plans to complete the withdrawal of its troops bythe end of the year. The ex-Soviet republic provided thesixth-largest contingent in the U.S.-led coalition in Iraq. Eighteen Ukrainian soldiers have been killed in Iraq andmore than two dozen have been wounded, fueling publicdismay about the unpopular deployment. More than 130 soldiers returned home last week, andUkraine plans to withdraw an additional 550 soldiers fromIraq by May 15 and the rest of the original contingent bythe end of the year, the Defense Ministry has said. The head of Ukraine's National Security and DefenseCouncil, Petro Poroshenko told a news conference Tuesdaythat in a formal move the president had signed an ordermaking the withdrawal irreversible. "The president has signed the plan for a stagedwithdrawal of our peacekeeping contingent from Iraq,"Poroshenko said. "The plan is a very carefully crafteddocument which details the terms of the Ukrainian pulloutfrom Iraq." The end date for the pullout will be "fixed afterconsultations with the other coalition members" and theUkrainian contingent is likely to leave Iraq in November orDecember, Poroshenko said. The troop pullout was one of the new president's campaignpromises. Ukraine strongly opposed the U.S.-led war but later agreedto send a large contingent to serve under Polish command incentral and southern Iraq.--more 1453 Local Time 1153 GMT www.spa.gov.sa/249026