Valentyna is thankful for the two pensions she and her husband share, even if Ukraines inflation shock means theyre no longer enough to buy medicine and meat.

We have some potatoes, tomatoes and cucumbers from our dacha, said the 72-year-old pensioner as she made her way through the city of Zhytomyr, a two-hour bus ride west of Kiev. I cant imagine how people survive on a single pension. We cant even go to the drug store. We try to use herbs instead.

From Lviv, near the Polish border, to Kharkiv, 1,000 kilometers (650 miles) east in Russias shadow, Ukrainians are grappling with the worlds worst-performing currency, inflation thats rocketed to 20 percent and the worst recession in five years. The plight of Zhytomyrs 270,000 residents shows how bailout-mandated austerity and the strains of an eight-month insurgency are playing out in everyday life.

Across the street from the citys Soviet-era department store, the central open-air market sells food, clothes and toys. Traders huddle next to signs offering to buy pumpkin seeds, nuts, rabbit pelts, feathers and beans from producers whove traveled from nearby villages.

Locals are cutting back because of this years 48 percent plunge in the hryvnia, a decline thats eroded purchasing power. The inflation rate spiked to 19.8 percent last month as the currencys slide boosted the costs of imported goods from gasoline to fruit.

I feel the hryvnia devaluation everywhere, Tamara Yakovets, 46, said from the window of her 2-square-meter kiosk, where she sells toothpaste and shampoo. My clients are shocked. I have to raise prices every week. People stopped buying expensive stuff and now they ask for the cheapest soap.

Ukrainians are no strangers to inflation. Price growth peaked at 10,256 percent in 1993 as the Soviet economy was dismantled. Having subsided, the rate jumped to 31.3 percent in 2008, shortly before the hryvnia last sank.

Today, the focus is on the currency. Aside from imports, expenses from renting an apartment to buying a car are frequently fixed in dollars, while salaries are in hryvnia.

For Iryna Ivanchuk, even a wage in hryvnia would be a relief. Since losing her job this year, shes gotten by on her husbands military stipend and assistance from relatives.

I watch the dollar rate all the time because for me its the best indicator of poverty, said the 29-year-old mother of a son in first grade. I buy less sweets and fruit because of the astronomical costs. We used to save some money. Now, we cant save anything.

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Medicine and Meat Out of Reach Amid Ukrainian Price Shock