Kiev: Ukraine’s prime minister offered his resignation on Friday after audio was leaked of him questioning President Volodymyr Zelensky’s grasp of economics, in the first major political test for the inexperienced leader.
It was unclear whether Zelensky would accept Oleksiy Goncharuk’s offer, which came after a recording emerged of him reportedly saying the president had a “primitive understanding” of the economy. Zelensky, a comedian with no previous political experience, came to power after a landslide election win last year and his “Servant of the People” party later won a strong majority in parliament.
He has been embroiled in the US impeachment process and faced tough talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin, but had so far managed to avoid any significant domestic political problems. The audio recording was leaked on social media on Wednesday and reportedly came from an informal December meeting between ministers and senior officials from the National Bank.
