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Ukraine’s economy is another victim of Russia’s ‘hybrid war’

FILE - An armored vehicle rolls down a street outside Donetsk, the territory controlled by pro-Russian militants, eastern Ukraine, late Wednesday, Jan. 28, 2015.Russian President Vladimir Putin has raised the stakes in the Ukraine standoff by recognizing the independence of rebel regions in the country's east. A key question now is whether he will stop at that or try to move deeper into Ukraine. (AP Photo/File) Ievgen Klopotenko speaks during an interview at his restaurant in Kyiv, Ukraine, on Sunday, Feb. 20, 2022. Klopotenko is a restauranteur who has made Ukrainian food his life's mission. He promotes it as a crucial part of national identity, a national identity that he says has changed radically since 2014 and is now fundamentally European-facing. (AP Photo/Andrew Kravchenko) FILE - Young people dance in the night club "Moskvich", which means a Moscow resident, in Kharkiv, Ukraine, Sunday, Jan. 30, 2022. The economic woes include restaurants that dare not keep more than a few days of food on hand, stalled plans for a hydrogen production plant that could help wean Europe off Russian gas and uncertain conditions for shipping in the Black Sea, where container ships must carefully edge their way around Russian military vessels. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka, File) Ievgen Klopotenko cooks at his restaurant in Kyiv, Ukraine, on Sunday, Feb. 20, 2022. Klopotenko is a restauranteur who has made Ukrainian food his life's mission. He promotes it as a crucial part of national identity, a national identity that he says has changed radically since 2014 and is now fundamentally European-facing. (AP Photo/Andrew Kravchenko) FILE - A vendor selling dried fish at her street stall waits for customers in Odessa, Ukraine, Thursday, Feb. 17, 2022. Since the beginning of the crisis in January, the national currency, the hryvnia, has steadily lost value, and it plunged 1% Tuesday after Russia recognized the two breakaway regions led by Russia-backed separatists. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti, File) FILE - Vendors wait for customers at their fruit market stall in downtown Kyiv, Ukraine, Monday, Feb. 14, 2022. With Russian troops encircling much of the country, Ukrainian businesses large and small no longer plan for the future — they can barely foresee what will happen week to week. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti, File) FILE - Miners perform maintenance at the start of a shift at one of the Krasnodonugol coal mines in Krasnodon, eastern Ukraine, Thursday, Aug. 6, 2015. It is Ukraine, not Russia, where the economy is eroding the fastest under the threat of war. Even before Russia launched its latest invasion, costing 70 years of hard-won European peace, Ukraine was the biggest loser in the agonizing, slow-motion aggression. (AP Photo/Mstyslav Chernov, File) FILE - Harbor cranes are seen in Mariupol trade port in Mariupol, south coast of Azov sea, eastern Ukraine, Sunday, Dec. 2, 2018. Andrey Stavnitser, CEO of the port operator TIS Group said the Black Sea ports are operating as usual for now, but it's only a matter of time before the same insurance problems that cut off commercial flights start to hit the shipping industry. Ukraine is one of the world's top grain exporters, loading container ships that carry 12% of the world's wheat supply and 16% of its corn. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky, File) FILE - A worker at a gas facility in Volovets, western Ukraine, adjusts a valve on Wednesday, Oct. 7, 2015. Ukrainian and Russian officials say final details have been worked out for a contract that will continue shipments of Russian gas to European markets. The Ukrainian presidential administration says details will be announced on Saturday, Dec. 21, 2019. (AP Photo/Pavlo Palamarchuk, File) FILE - In this Nov. 19, 2019 file photo, a Ukrainian soldier passes by a destroyed Butovka coal mine as he approaches his front line position in the town of Avdiivka in the Donetsk region, Ukraine. It is Ukraine, not Russia, where the economy is eroding the fastest under the threat of war. Even before Russia launched its latest invasion, costing 70 years of hard-won European peace, Ukraine was the biggest loser in the agonizing, slow-motion aggression. (AP Photo/Vitali Komar, File) FILE - Workers walk and cycle along the coal transporters at the front-line Avdiivka coking plant in eastern Ukraine, Tuesday, Aug. 4, 2015. The squeezing of Ukraine's economy is a key destabilizing tactic in what the government describes as "hybrid warfare" intended to eat away at the country from within. (AP Photo/Mstyslav Chernov, File) FILE - In this handout photo provided by the Ukrainian Presidential Press Office, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy inspects weapons during a visit to Ukrainian coast guards in Mariupol, Donetsk region, eastern Ukraine, Thursday, Feb. 17, 2022. In late January, Zelenskyy said that $12.5 billion had been withdrawn from accounts in the country. Last week, he called on members of parliament and businessmen who had fled to return. More than 20 charters and private jets left Kyiv last week, carrying some of the country's most prominent executives. (Ukrainian Presidential Press Office via AP, File) FILE - Acting United States ambassador Kristina Kvien, center, walks in Lviv, Ukraine, Tuesday, Feb. 15, 2022. The United States relocated the embassy from Kyiv to the western Ukrainian city of Lviv, citing a "dramatic acceleration" in the buildup of Russian forces at the country's border. One by one, embassies and international offices in Kyiv closed. Flight after flight was canceled when insurance companies balked at covering planes arriving in Ukraine. Hundreds of millions of dollars in investment dried up within weeks. (AP Photo/Mykola Tys, File) FILE - A security stands the British Embassy in Kyiv, Ukraine, Monday, Jan. 24, 2022. One by one, embassies and international offices in Kyiv closed. Flight after flight was canceled when insurance companies balked at covering planes arriving in Ukraine. Hundreds of millions of dollars in investment dried up within weeks. With Russian troops encircling much of the country, Ukrainian businesses large and small no longer plan for the future, they can barely foresee what will happen week to week. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky, File) FILE - A view of the U.S. embassy in Kyiv, Ukraine, Saturday, Feb. 12, 2022. One by one, embassies and international offices in Kyiv closed. Flight after flight was canceled when insurance companies balked at covering planes arriving in Ukraine. Hundreds of millions of dollars in investment dried up within weeks. With Russian troops encircling much of the country, Ukrainian businesses large and small no longer plan for the future, they can barely foresee what will happen week to week. (AP Photo/Andrew Kravchenko, File) FILE - A view of Ukraine's the Motherland Monument in Kyiv Sunday, Feb. 13, 2022. The threat of war has shredded Ukraine's economy, and many Ukrainians are asking why they are the ones suffering instead of Russia. The pressure from Russian troops has closed international offices, canceled flights and caused hundreds of millions of dollars in investment to dry up within weeks. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky, File)