Farm minister latest corruption suspect

A Ukrainian court ordered the detention of the country’s farm minister on Friday in the latest high-profile corruption investigation, while Kyiv security officials were assessing how they can recover battlefield momentum in the war against Russia.

Ukraine’s High Anti-Corruption Court ruled Agriculture Minister Oleksandr Solskyi should be held in custody for 60 days.

However, he was released after paying 75 million hryvnyas ($1.9 million U.S.) in bail, a statement said.

Ukraine’s National Anti-Corruption Bureau suspects Solskyi headed an organized crime group that between 2017 and ’21 unlawfully obtained land worth 291 million hryvnyas ($7.3 million) and attempted to obtain other land worth 190 million hryvnyas ($4.8 million).

Ukraine is trying to root out corruption and a dragnet over the past two years has seen Ukraine’s defence minister, top prosecutor, intelligence chief and other senior officials lose their jobs. That has been embarrassing as Ukraine receives tens of billions of dollars in foreign aid to help fight Russia’s army, and the European Union and NATO have demanded widespread antigraft measures before Kyiv can realize its ambition of joining the blocs.

In Kyiv, patients were evacuated from a children’s hospital Friday after a video circulated online saying Russia planned to attack it.

Parents lugged bags of clothes, toys and food while carrying toddlers and leading children out of Kyiv City Children’s Hospital No. 1, on the city’s outskirts. Medics helped them into a fleet of waiting ambulances to be transported to other facilities.