Ukraine's tense January: resignation offer, flight anger and a symbol row
A look back at the pressures on Kyiv in the days around 22 January 2020, from a prime minister's offer to quit to a dispute over the Tryzub in Britain.
What was weighing on Ukraine's government on 22 January 2020? In the days before that date, three separate stories pressed on Kyiv: a leaked audio clip that shook the cabinet, anger over the downing of a Ukrainian passenger jet, and a diplomatic dispute with the United Kingdom over the national coat of arms.
A resignation offered, then declined
On 17 January 2020, Prime Minister Oleksiy Honcharuk submitted his resignation. It followed the leak earlier that week of an audio clip in which he allegedly criticised President Volodymyr Zelensky's economic policies. Zelensky subsequently announced that Honcharuk was allowed to keep his position. The episode left the prime minister in office, but only after he had formally offered to leave.
Flight 752 and Tehran's response
Also on 17 January 2020, Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei gave his first Friday sermon in eight years. He defended the Revolutionary Guards over the accidental killing of passengers aboard Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752, and praised Operation Martyr Soleimani for delivering a "slap on the face" to the United States. The sermon came as public anger mounted in Iran over the government's handling of the crash. As later background describes it, the aircraft had been shot down by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps on 8 January 2020, and the revelation prompted anti-government protests in Iran.
A dispute over the Tryzub
On 21 January 2020, Ukraine demanded that the United Kingdom's National Counter Terrorism Policing Network remove the Tryzub from a guide to hate symbols associated with white supremacy and neo-Nazism. Counter Terrorism Policing said the coat of arms had been included because of its use by National Action, a proscribed far-right terror group.
Why it mattered
Taken together, these items show a government handling domestic strain and foreign questions at once. The prime minister's position was settled for the moment by the president's decision. The Flight 752 matter remained a source of public anger in Iran. The Tryzub disagreement placed Kyiv in a formal dispute with British counter-terrorism officials over how a national emblem was presented.
