(Tribune News Service) — Ukraine’s agriculture minister became the first cabinet member under Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s presidency to be detained in a crackdown on corruption demanded by allies as a condition for aid in Kyiv’s war against Russia.

The High Anti-Corruption Court in Kyiv ordered Mykola Solskyi, who has overseen Ukraine’s grain-export policy during the conflict, to be taken into custody early Friday, the court said on its website. The minister, who submitted his resignation even as he denied wrongdoing, was released after paying roughly $1.9 million, according to a ministry statement.

Before he became Ukraine’s wartime leader, Zelenskyy was propelled to office in 2019 on a pledge to root out endemic corruption that eroded Ukraine’s economy for three decades since the Soviet Union collapsed. Moscow’s invasion has made the issue more urgent as international donors have demanded progress while they dispatch billions to keep the war-battered economy afloat and provide weapons to the frontline.

Bolstering anti-corruption efforts and reducing oligarchs’ control over the economy is a central issue for lenders including the International Monetary Fund but also the European Union, which opened accession talks with Kyiv at the end of last year.

The Anti-Corruption Bureau and prosecutors Tuesday accused Solskyi, who played a key role in seeking export channels for Ukrainian grain since taking office a month after Russia’s full-scale invasion began in February 2022, of involvement in a scheme to illegally appropriate state-owned land and issued a notice of suspicion.

Solskyi, a former businessman, earlier said he “guarantees openness” to authorities for activity that took place before he took office. In an April 23 statement on Telegram, Solskyi said the land under scrutiny is part of a legal dispute between state enterprises and individuals.

Kateryna Ryzhenko, the deputy executive director for legal affairs for Transparency International Ukraine, said the case against the cabinet minister was uncommon and sent a “positive signal” to international donors.

It shows that “our anti-graft authorities are not afraid to investigate high-profile politicians and government officials,” Ryzhenko said in an interview. Still, “too many such cases can reinforce the narrative promoted by Russia that Ukraine is a corrupt nation.”

Seizure of land

The scheme tied to Solskyi involves the seizure of some 2,500 hectares (6,177 acres) of land in Ukraine’s northern Sumy region worth an estimated 291 million hryvnia between 2017 and 2021, the bureau known as NABU said.

Public outrage over corruption has also played a role in the political arena. Anti-graft officials last year opened an investigation into suspected purchases of food at inflated prices for war-hit regions, a probe that entangled Solskyi’s deputy, Taras Vysotskyi. The ministry denied the accusations.

Zelenskyy dismissed his defense minister, Oleksii Reznikov, as part of the wartime cabinet’s biggest shakeup last year. The former defense chief long fended off allegations over graft in military procurement by subordinates, charges that he denied.

The Supreme Court chief was detained in May 2023 after investigators said they had uncovered “large-scale corruption” in the highest judicial body. Ukrainian oligarch Igor Kolomoisky, who supported Zelenskyy during an election campaign in 2019, is suspected of the embezzlement and has been in a detention center since September.

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