After the positive dynamics at the beginning of the war, the authorities' attitude towards business began to deteriorate again and is accompanied by increased pressure, participants of the iforum2023 held in Kyiv on August 10 said.

"It's much better than it was under [President Viktor] Yanukovych, but much worse than before the full-scale invasion," Vladyslav Chechetkin, co-founder of the country's largest marketplace, Rozetka, said, adding the pressure has increased compared to 2021.

According to him, the tax service regularly checks the company's activities, including even the "points of invincibility" organized by it.

"They don't find anything with us, and they fine us for the amount for which, in their opinion, we won't argue. That is, these are some minimum amounts of fines. But they interfere. But they check. But they often stop work and so on," Chechetkin said.

He said that such constant checks have already become routine.

"In general, it already looks like it's raining outside – you need to take an umbrella and go outside," the businessman said.

Volodymyr Popereshniuk, co-owner of the largest express delivery company in the country, Nova Poshta, said that entrepreneurs were able to breathe freely last year, but the situation has changed a lot lately.

"Entrepreneurs were able to breathe freely in March [2022], when duties were canceled, tax incentives were introduced, and now everything is returning back to the pre-war time. When the authorities were scared, and they understood that everything could be "hidden," they gave freedom to entrepreneurs, when it's not so scary anymore – once again you can treat entrepreneurs like geese and sheep that can be sheared and plucked," he said.