Ukraine Travel Guide

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The unit of currency is the hryvnia denoted by the abbreviation "грн" and symbol "₴". The ISO code is UAH. It is spelt гривня and pronounced hryvnia in Ukrainian. It is sometimes shown as "₴" both before and after the amount and with and without spaces. National Bank actual rates. On Wikivoyage, the notation грн is used, which you will see very often in Ukraine.

The quickest way to get around big cities is the so-called marshrutka: the minibuses which follow routes much like the regular buses do. You can generally flag them down or ask them to stop at places other than the specified bus stops. The fare is paid as soon as you get in (except in Odesa, where you pay upon exiting), and is fixed no matter how far you want to go. This is the same for the conventional buses, tram, trolley-buses and the Metro. Tell the driver that you want to get off when you are approaching the destination.

As a consequence of the political development and the war, the status of Russian has changed dramatically since 2013. This also affects other languages: often place names in them were derived from the Russian ones, while parallel names derived from the Ukrainian ones are seeing much more usage since 2022 (e.g. Kiev → Kyiv). When talking to Ukrainians, be sure to use the Ukrainian and not Russian forms of the names, as using the Russian names may be taken to mean that you support the Russian inva…

Russian invasion

On 24 February 2022, Russia launched an all-out invasion of Ukraine. Martial law went in effect. Shelling and air strikes are not restricted to military targets. There are missile strikes on cities all around the country. Active war fighting is limited to the eastern regions including the Kherson, Zaporizhzhia and Donetsk oblasts. The risk of being affected by a Russian missile or drone attack in Kyiv or Lviv is very low. Most of the time they get shot down by Ukrainian air defence. The chance of dying because of Russian missile or drone attacks in Kyiv is actually lower…

Water

As a rule, avoid drinking tap water. The major reason for this is that water in many regions is disinfected using chlorine, so taste is horrible. Whenever possible buy bottled water, which is widely available,

Phone

Ukrtelekom is the main telecom operator. The country code for Ukraine is +380.

Mobile

The biggest mobile phone operators Kyivstar, Vodafone (formerly MTS), Lifecell.

Internet

Mobile GPRS access is available in vast majority of Ukraine's territory. 4G mobile access is steadily developing and is available now in all major cities. Public Wi-Fi hotspots are widespread throughout cities. There are plans and projects for providing mass wireless broadband access in urban open sp…

Although Ukraine has a close historical and cultural relationship with Russia, Ukrainians are not Russians; they're a separate ethnic group and would be deeply offended if you say otherwise. Even ethnic minorities (e.g. Russians, Hungarians, Romanians) within Ukraine usually identify as Ukrainian.