Ukrainians struggling as their economy shrinksMany Ukrainians are feeling the effects of their country's severe recession. Fuelled partly by the debilitating war in the east with Russian-supported militants, Ukraine's economy is shrinking.
The country may also be on the verge of defaulting on some of its international debts.
This week, Ukraine's Prime Minister, Arseniy Yatsenyuk, has been in the United States to reassure Washington that the government is making progress in tackling the troubled economy, cracking down on corruption and dealing with the shaky cease-fire with the insurgents.
But for many ordinary Ukrainians, life is hard. On the outskirts of Kiev husband and wife team Andrei and Yulia Burda run a speech therapy centre, a non-profit organization they founded for children with special needs.
It's a modest operation occupying just two small rooms in the corner of a school, and Andrei and Yulia make do with contributions from the 20 families whose children they help.
With this they pay the rent and buy some basic, inexpensive items to assist them in their work - as well as a Bassett Hound puppy named Bobby.
At home they are equally frugal. With their two daughters and Andrei's mother, they rent a small one-bedroom flat near Kiev's centre. Together they make plaster of Paris figures and cloth dolls that they sell at a local art fair. Andrei also provides a dog grooming service for Yorkshire terriers.
But for all this penny-pinching, Yulia says they're just getting by.
"We can't afford to go to places with our children - to the shopping mall, the zoo or the circus - because it's so expensive," she says.
With the collapse in the value of the national currency, the hryvnia, after the central bank signalled it would no longer intervene to support it, and rocketing inflation - Yulia says they face tough choices over what to buy.
"We can't afford medicines that we need. Because if we buy medicine, then for a period of time we can't buy food.
"Whenever you go into a store or to the market, you can't believe your eyes. Because what you paid for sausage or cheese for one kilogramme before, now buys 100 grams."
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-33610625
