While the level of corruption in the country may be on the decline, it’s far from over — and pressure on journalists is only mounting.

“I ran investigations for 15 years before the war, and it was always hard and risky. But I think it’s worse for journalists now,” said Ukrainian reporter Yuri Nikolov, editor and co-founder of the anti-corruption investigative project Nashi Groshi (Our Money).

“They use different intimidation tactics to try to deter reporters and then, of course, they can always threaten to ship you off to the front lines,” he added with a rueful guffaw. For a man at the end of death threats, he remains remarkably upbeat.

Last year, Nikolov published several stories alleging graft in the Ukrainian military. The focus of his exposé was on defense procurement and the highly inflated prices of food and catering services for the country’s combat troops — he found suppliers were allowed to charge three times the average retail price for food.

Nikolov’s groundbreaking investigation on the shady procurement contracts prompted public uproar and led to the resignation of the country’s deputy defense minister. It also contributed to the resignation of then-Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov later in the year.