Ukraine enters uncharted water

NATION ON BRINK OF BANKRUPTCY

The political uncertainty has cost Ukraine economically: the country is said to be in dire financial straits, facing possible default.

Turchynov said Monday that his country needs at least $213 million to hold the election campaign scheduled for May. The money was a large sum for Ukraine, said Yatsenyuk. "The treasury was plundered; the state is on the edge of bankruptcy."

Ukraine, which has to pay $17.4 billion of its foreign debt this year, turned to the international community for help. It has proposed to hold an international donor conference with the participation of the European Union, the United States, Poland, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), and other countries and international financial institutions to allocate funds for Ukraine 's reforms and modernization.

Ukraine needs around $35 billion in aid to improve its economy, the country's Finance Ministry said.

The EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, who is on a working visit to Kiev, capital of Ukraine, said the 28-member block is ready to support Ukraine.

"We are ready to support Ukraine and to show the other countries that your state not only solves the problems of the past but looks to the future," Ashton said during a meeting with Turchynov.

Meanwhile, Russia, the biggest Ukraine's trade partner, questioned the legitimacy of Ukraine's new authorities and said that gas contracts between the two countries had time limits and Moscow could reconsider them on consultations with Kiev.

Gas price means a lot to the country's budget. When Moscow agreed to cut the price of its gas supplies to Ukraine by a third in December, Kiev said that it expected to save up to 7 billion dollars in annual cost from the deal.