It was a substantial commitment. But it fell well short of what Ukraine needed. The aid from Europe would be stretched over seven years. The IMF loan, as always, came with tough conditions. Gas prices were to be raised by 56 percent and the government payroll cut by 10 percent.58 The foreign exchanges were to be liberalized to allow the exchange rate to adjust to a competitive level, a high-risk operation that was likely to put huge pressure on Ukraine’s banks. The largest risk of all were the military operations in
