Two Ukrainian stories on 18 January 2020

What did the previous day's news mean for Ukraine on 18 January 2020? Two separate stories were moving in parallel: a political wobble in Kyiv and public anger in Iran over the downing of a Ukrainian passenger jet.

In Kyiv, Prime Minister Oleksiy Honcharuk had submitted his resignation on 17 January 2020. The move 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, so the resignation did not take effect.

Anger in Iran

The second story concerned Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752. On 17 January 2020, Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei delivered a Friday sermon, his first in eight years. He defended the Revolutionary Guards over the accidental killing of passengers on the flight. He also praised Operation Martyr Soleimani, describing it as a "slap on the face" to the United States.

The sermon came as public anger mounted against the Iranian government over its handling of the crash. The protests were later described as part of the spillover clashes of January 2020 that followed the crackdown on the 2019 Iranian protests. They began after it was revealed that the Revolutionary Guard Corps had shot down the aircraft on 8 January 2020.

Why the two stories sit together

The two developments were unconnected in their causes. One was a domestic test of the relationship between a president and his prime minister; the other was a dispute over responsibility for a downed airliner that carried the name of a Ukrainian airline. By 18 January 2020, the first had been settled by Zelensky's announcement, while the second remained unresolved, with protest and official defence of the Guards still in the headlines.