You're reading: BBC: Ukraine MP’s advice to sell dog to pay bills causes outcry

BBC: Ukraine MP’s advice to sell dog to pay bills causes outcry

By BBC.

Published Feb. 3, 2020 at 6:03 pm

The 66-year old retiree Lyubov Kolyucha pets her 14-year old outbred dog Sharik in the village of Adzhamka, Kirovohrad Oblast on Feb. 2, 2020. Deputy Yevheniy Brahar suggested that Kolyucha sells her dog to pay for her gas bills, if the dog is "elite."

Photo by Valeriy Lebid

Pictures of dogs flooded Ukrainian social media after an MP advised a pensioner to sell her pet, so she could pay her utility bills.

The shaggy dog story began on Jan. 31 when Lyubov Kolyucha, 66, called in to the 112 Ukrayina TV channel, to complain that her small pension of 2,000 Ukrainian hryvnias ($79; £61) was not enough to live on.