Ukraine Prime Minister Resigns Over 'Malicious Audio Recording'

[Asia Economy Reporter Seong Giho] Ukrainian Prime Minister Aleksei Honcharuk announced his intention to resign on the 17th (local time) due to a malicious audio recording.

According to Russian media, Honcharuk stated on his Facebook account that day, "To dispel doubts about our respect and trust in the president, I have written a resignation letter and delivered it to the president." Honcharuk explained that his voluntary resignation was due to a malicious audio recording circulating recently on the local internet that disparaged him and his team.

He expressed regret, saying, "In recent days, you have witnessed the incident surrounding the files circulated on the internet. These are manipulated recordings of government meetings," adding, "The content creates the impression that my team and I did not respect the political leader, the president."

The Ukrainian presidential press office also confirmed on Facebook that President Volodymyr Zelensky had received Honcharuk's resignation letter and stated, "The president will review it and notify his decision."

Earlier, several audio files discussing the president's economic policy report were circulated on the local Ukrainian internet and social networking services (SNS).

One of the files included a voice similar to Prime Minister Honcharuk's saying, "The president has childish ideas about the economy and considers himself an economic expert," which caused a stir.

After the audio file was released, Honcharuk claimed, "Many people opposing the president's team and the government hope that we achieve no success," and argued that the file was manipulated to sow discord between the president and himself.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.