Kyiv, Ukraine – This has become the biggest political shake-up in wartime Ukraine – and it doesn’t seem to be over.

A slew of top officials have resigned or been sacked since Sunday after a Ukrainian newspaper reported a corruption scheme involving food supplies to the military.

The scandal was followed by a breakthrough in Ukraine’s search for a military Holy Grail – some of the world’s most sophisticated tanks from Germany whose arrival at the front lines may change the war’s odds.

The Zn.ua publication reported last week that food prices quoted in a Ministry of Defence contract it acquired were up to three times higher than in supermarkets in Kyiv.

“The rear front rats from the Defence Ministry steal more food from the armed forces than in peacetime,” the headline read.

Defence Minister Oleksiy Reznikov lambasted the publication, saying the prices were higher because of the logistical ordeals involved in delivering goods to the front lines.

He has kept his job, but heads began to roll, and the list of sacked officials is growing longer by the day.

It includes his deputy, a deputy head of the presidential administration, three other deputy ministers, five governors and five prosecutors in their regions, and two heads of government agencies.

Kyrylo Tymoshenko holds up a note written on a sheet of paper as he tenders his resignation, asking President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to relieve him of his duties [Kyrylo Tymoshenko via Telegram/via Reuters]

Kyrylo Tymoshenko, deputy head of Ukraine’s presidential office, holds up his resignation letter asking Zelenskyy to relieve him of his duties on January 24, 2023 [Kyrylo Tymoshenko via Telegram/via Reuters]

Six of them have allegedly been involved in corruption, according to media reports and anti-corruption authorities.

Media outlets have speculated that three more ministers and even Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal may get pink slips.

“I want it to be clear – things won’t be the same anymore,” President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a televised address on Sunday as he pledged a zero-tolerance approach to graft.

After the sackings began, Ukraine scored one of its biggest breakthroughs on the battlefield: Germany agreed to supply its advanced Leopard 2 battle tanks.

After months of refusals, resistance and deliberations, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz pledged on Tuesday to provide 14 tanks and allow other European nations that have them to deliver them to Kyiv.

Leopards weigh more than 60 tonnes, fire 120mm shells and have two 7.62mm machine guns, one of which can hit aircraft.

Germany has sold hundreds of Leopard 2s to more than a dozen European nations as well as Canada and Indonesia. They have taken part in conflicts from Kosovo to Syria. (Al Jazeera)

•PHOTO: As President Volodymyr Zelenskyy reshuffles his cabinet, aiming to root out corruption, he is awaiting the arrival of battle tanks he says are needed to win against Russia [Efrem Lukatsky/AP]

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