Ukraine Prime Minister Oleksiy Hincharuk has tendered his resignation after an audio recording of him bad-mouthing the president Volomydyr Zelenskiy emerged.
In the recording, the voice of a man talking about the president's lack of knowledge in economics is heard.
In a Facebook post announcing his resignation, the embattled PM said that the recording had been doctored to create the impression that he did not have respect for the head of state.
He said that he had reached the decision to resign so as to remove that impression.
Upon receiving the letter of resignation, the president is expected to submit it to parliament for approval.
“However, in order to remove any doubts about our respect and trust in the president, I wrote a letter of resignation and handed it to the president with the right to submit it to parliament,” he said as quoted by the Guardian.
The resignation could not have come at a worse time. The Ukraine president is dealing with a number of crises; tensions with Iran over the downing of a Ukrainian airliner, a diplomatic row with Russia, and his role in the impeachment proceedings against US president Donald Trump.