Ukrainian president rejects prime minister's resignation over leaked audio recording

January 18, 2020

Yesterday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky declined Prime Minister 's offer to resign after the leak of an audio recording in which someone, seemingly Honcharuk, audibly says Zelensky "has a very primitive understanding of economic processes."

Honcharuk filed his resignation after the audio recording was uploaded Wednesday on an anynomous YouTube channel. He said Zelensky is "a model of honesty for me"; however, "to remove any doubts about our respect and trust in the president, I wrote a resignation offer", he added.

Zelensky said in a meeting with Honcharuk, "I decided to give you and your government a chance if you'll be able to fix some issues that are very important now and really worry our society".

He also instructed security agencies to investigate who leaked the recording.