CNN Opinion: March 16, 2023

Whether it be completely losing their businesses due to Russian bombing, cutting operating hours due to lack of customers, or not being able to grow produce because of the presence of landmines, Ukraine’s entrepreneurs are feeling the economic toll of the conflict.

Elsewhere across Ukraine, countless billboards either show expired concert ads from months gone by, or the words: “This ad space could be yours.”

According to the American Chamber of Commerce in Ukraine, 31% of its members have seen their plants and facilities damaged and 19% have had employees killed in the last year.

Winemakers, restauranteurs and even beauty salon owners have told me they are having to implement expensive, heart-wrenching work-arounds just to stay afloat. But their stories rarely seem to be part of the official narrative of the war.

Read my full CNN OpEd here