"An environment is gradually taking shape in which it is becoming increasingly difficult for journalists to do their jobs," Inna Vedernikova, a journalist at the Ukrainian newspaper Dzerkalo Tyzhnia, told the Kyiv Independent. "The space for freedom of speech is shrinking."

The detention of two Ukrainian journalists in Austria earlier this month while conducting 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 to