Once considered a class of untouchables with deep pockets and influence, the world financial crisis has already dented the net worth of some of Ukraine’s billionaires.

Once considered a class of untouchables with deep pockets and deeper influence, the world financial crisis has already put the squeeze on the net worth of some of Ukraine’s billionaires, financial analysts say.

While a recession ahead could further erode their wealth, the past three months have already exposed the vulnerability of Ukraine’s richest.

Some have in recent years overextended themselves by borrowing too much to acquire too many assets. And a worldwide frenzy for cash, amid frozen credit markets, has sent their stock prices tumbling.

The turmoil has cast a cloud of doubt over bold expansion and modernization plans, diminishing the swagger of some oligarchs. A stock market index prepared by the Concorde Capital investment bank, measuring the net worth of six of Ukraine’s wealthiest, shows their publicly traded assets have lost, on average, about 70 percent this year.

The first to be hard hit was Ukraine’s youngest billionaire, 34-year old Kostyantin Zhevago. He was first among Ukraine’s billionaires to proceed with a big initial public offering on the London Stock Exchange. He took his vast Ukrainian ore mining company, Ferrexpo, public. But in a gamble, he used a quarter of the company as collateral for cash offered by an investment bank which he hoped to use for expansion, allegedly to buy a Bulgarian steel mill. When Ferrexpo’s stock plummeted along with its peers, the investment bank exercised its option to sell the stake for cash. Lo and behold, Zhevago lost a 25 percent stake in Ferrexpo. While Zhevago still retains a majority stake in Ferrexpo, his bid for Bulgaria’s Kremikovtzi steel mill doesn’t appear to be proceeding according to plan.

The financial hurricane has not spared other affluent Ukrainians.

Property developer Lev Partskhaladze, chairman and majority owner of XXI Century, has seen his company’s stock price drop 96.2 percent year-to-date on the London Stock Exchange’s secondary market, forcing him to revert to short-term projects and divest non-core assets to other developers and investors, according to Galt & Taggart investment bank.

Concorde Capital’s “oligarch index” shows that the value of leading Ukrainian steel producer Industrial Union of Donbass has also sunk heavily by some 88 percent. The deep slide in value for the group is largely rooted in its heavy asset concentration in the mining-metallurgical sector.

There are signs that the credit crunch is derailing the bold expansion plans of Ukraine’s billionaires. The Metinvest steel holding of Ukraine’s richest man, Rinat Akhmetov, recently opted out of purchasing U.S.-based United Coal, said Sergiy Gayda, an analyst at Dragon Capital investment bank.

Together, Akhmetov, ex-president Leonid Kuchma’s son-in-law Victor Pinchuk and Zhevago have seen the value of their listed companies shrink by an average of 65 percent from May 5 to Oct 22, according to Dragon Capital. They have seen their net worth cut in more than half since April.

Yet while many of Ukraine’s billionaires may be overstretched, Pinchuk is believed to be cash-rich, having completed the sale of Ukrsotsbank to Unicredit for roughly $2 billion. Gayda believes Pinchuk is well-positioned to make opportunistic and very lucrative acquisitions during these hard times.

Net worth shrinkage has not been limited to Ukraine. Russia’s 25 wealthiest businessmen have seen their worth shrink by $230 billion, or 62 percent, in the last five months, according to Bloomberg calculations. The financial hurricane that has landed is already earning its reputation as Russia’s worst financial crisis since the 1998 default on its debt.

The $50 billion that Russia’s leadership has pledged to lend cash-strapped companies will extend state control over business leaders. Billionaires seeking bailouts – including Oleg Deripaska and Mikhail Fridman – will have to give authorities veto power over their companies’ financing decisions, according to Bloomberg.

“Deripaska has been forced to sell off stakes in the Canadian auto parts maker Magna International and in the German construction giant Hochtief. Bank Soyuz, which he controls, stopped lending,” according to Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. And the GAZ automaker, in which he holds a majority stake, was forced to temporarily shut down its assembly lines.