DONETSK, Ukraine -- They were arrested on live television.
Ukrainian police walked into a nationally televised meeting of the country's cabinet of ministers in Kiev on Wednesday, and with cameras rolling, slapped cuffs on the chief and deputy chief of the emergencies services ministry.
The charges: corruption.
Interior Minister Arsen Avakov said the two men were detained for alleged graft involving offshore companies.
Anton Heraschenko, an advisor to Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, said Serhiy Bochkovsky, head of the State Service of Emergency Situations of Ukraine, and his deputy Vasily Stoyetskoho, are suspected of stealing 15 to 20% of cash that the state paid for fuel, including for ambulances in eastern Ukraine, where government forces are fighting Russian-backed separatists.
The move was clearly staged for maximum effect to prove to the West that Kiev is making much-needed strides in reforming its government.
Besides the war in the east, Ukraine's new pro-Western administration has been fighting a battle against corrupt officials in Kiev.
"When the country is at war, and when we are counting every penny, they steal from people and the state. This will happen to everyone who breaks the law and sneers at the Ukrainian state," said Prime Minister Arseny Yatsenyuk, who tweeted images of the officials being arrested.
#Ukraine's Prime Minister -> TT @Yatsenyuk_AP: How it'll be for all who violate the law and mock the Ukrainian state. pic.twitter.com/FnftxBBQmK— Christopher Miller (@ChristopherJM) March 25, 2015
Avakov told journalists that the decision to arrest the officials at a government meeting was "a preventive vaccination against all those corrupt people who sadly number many among us in power."
Yatsenyuk said other investigations against high-ranking state officials are underway, and punitive action has already been taken against those in several state departments and companies.
Not even the cabinet of ministers is off limits for investigators, he added. "Attempts to further steal from the country and avoid responsibility are doomed."
On social media, Ukrainians expressed delight in the arrests after decades of watching officials operate with impunity.
Ukrainian political consultant Taras Berezovets joked on Twitter that "each minister before the morning session of the cabinet should start by checking the 'wanted' section of the website."