The most serious political crisis to shake Ukraine since Russia invaded in February 2022 initially appeared to have ended on a positive note. First, in July, the presidency announced its intention to remove the independent statuses of two bodies tasked with fighting corruption – the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office (SAPO) and the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) – justifying the move by citing the need to rid them of "Russian influence" within their ranks. The Ukrainian Parliament passed a bill officializing the move on July 22, which President Volodymyr Zelensky then signed into law. Nine days later, on July 31, the president, facing public protests and pressure from Kyiv's European partners, ultimately decided to restore both bodies' autonomy by having a new law passed.

Two months on, both agencies have expressed concern about the toxic atmosphere that undermines their activities, and their especially tense relationship with the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), which is under the government's control. "Legally, we are back to the situation that prevailed before the July 22 law," said one SAPO prosecutor, who requested anonymity to speak freely. "But apart from that, we feel that things have changed. Now, we wonder if someone will knock on our door tomorrow morning with a search warrant, or even without a warrant, simply because we did our job properly."

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