WASHINGTON (CNN) – Ukraine has agreed to get rid of its highly enriched uranium stockpile in the next two years, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs announced Monday.

In an interview with CNN earlier Monday, Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich said most of his nation's highly enriched uranium would be gone by the end of 2010.

"The Ukraine has quite a number of power plants and various universities and research institutes where we are trying to understand to best utilize nuclear in a peaceful means," Yanukovich said in the interview with CNN foreign affairs correspondent Jill Dougherty. "We are working on it. However, we are already taking the necessary step to remove highly enriched uranium from the country. By the end of this year, Ukraine is going to have the larger part of this uranium taken out of the country."

Yanukovich indicated in the interview that the final destination of the uranium could be Russia. However, Gibbs told reporters the final destination had yet to be determined.
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