The detention of two Ukrainian journalists in Austria earlier this month while reporting on an investigation has highlighted deeper systemic concerns.

Mykhailo Tkach and Yaroslav Bondarenko were investigating a former Ukrainian prosecutor general who had fled Ukraine and settled in Vienna.

Austria has increasingly come under scrutiny for providing refuge

The National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) on Oct. 21 searched the premises of Andriy Pyshnyi, head of the National Bank of Ukraine, a law enforcement source told the Kyiv Independent.

The EU has demanded a reform of Ukraine's notoriously corrupt and politicized prosecution service and called for making the procedure for picking the prosecutor general less political and more merit-based. Meanwhile, anti-corruption activists and pro-reform lawmakers have accused the Ukrainian authorities of sabotaging rule of law reforms and resisting the demand for depoliticizing the Prosecutor General's Office.

Tetiana Montian, a Ukrainian-born blogger, has supported Russia's aggression against Ukraine but at the same time accused the Russian authorities of incompetence and corruption.

Latvia's decision last week to declare Russian-born journalist and blogger Leonid Ragozin persona non grata has drawn attention to a broader trend: Russians who once presented themselves as opponents of Vladimir Putin are now accused of echoing Kremlin narratives.

Some now live in Europe, taking advantage of the