Ukraine’s top military commander visited troops defending the besieged eastern city of Pokrovsk on Thursday, as President Volodymyr Zelenskyy faced a growing corruption scandal in his administration.

Following the resignation of Zelenskyy’s justice and energy ministers over an alleged energy sector graft scheme, the government dismissed the vice president of state nuclear firm Energoatom, along with heads of finance, legal, and procurement departments, and a presidential consultant, Prime Minister Yuliia Svyrydenko said. Investigators say the scandal may have generated roughly $100 million in kickbacks, with five people already detained and seven more implicated. Tymur Mindich, co-owner of Zelenskyy’s Kvartal 95 media company, is suspected to be the mastermind and remains at large.

The scandal has sparked public anger and renewed scrutiny of what top officials knew. Zelenskyy had faced criticism last summer for trying to curb Ukraine’s anti-corruption watchdogs, a move reversed after protests and EU pressure.

Meanwhile, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced a €6 billion ($7 billion) EU loan to Ukraine, assuring continued financial support for the next two years. She emphasized that Russian President Vladimir Putin’s belief that he could outlast Ukraine was “a clear miscalculation.”

On the battlefield, Gen. Oleksandr Syrskyi said Ukrainian forces are holding street battles in Pokrovsk and working to secure logistic routes and evacuate the wounded. “There is no question of Russian control over the city of Pokrovsk or of the operational encirclement of Ukraine’s defense forces in the area,” he said on Telegram.