Travel to Ukraine 2025

@martinodesa

Hey Martin,

With what's happening now, please keep safe and do take care of yourself.

@martinodesa. Thank you .  I am planning to travel through Lviv so I look forward to your upcoming post.  Best wishes.  Sher

Firstly i need to apologise for spelling Lvov (Russian ) and not Lviv. The main rule of thumb in traveling at the moment, as follows.

Keep passport and visa {if needed} with you at all times. Do not leave in Hotel, ETC.

Keep your phone fully charged, its best to have a local sim like Kyiv star.

Have your embassy phone number and or local friends number on speed dial.

Make sur you have medical cover, for normal stuff. You probably will not get cover to cover you from war damage.

You can expect to be stopped by local intelligence, who will ask you for Passport, where you are staying, and if they feel , they may ask you for your phone and for you to open it.

Know it is illegal under marshal law to photo, the photo following.

Power plants, Any military equipment, Any gathering of military personnel, any government buildings, anything connected, aid. Fail to observe this and you have it on your phone or camera, you could end up in very very very hot water. at best deported for life, at worse put on trial as a spy. So if its not you close friends DONT PHOTO IT.

No matter where you intend to go, if there is an air raid, take shelter, the Russians are hitting civilian targets each and every day, DONT TAKE THE RISK.

Most of the inner areas around Ukraine are perfectly ok 99% of the time , but you never know.

Observe the curfew, it is not the same , each area is a bit different. IF you go within 50 Kilometres of the front, you will be stopped and questioned , its not a tourist attraction, if you brakes the rules in this very hard time, you will not be asked to leave , you will be escorted with what you have and put over the border. No if No buts, No appeal..

Its not all doom and gloom, the larger city's work 80% as normal, clubs still open, the food is just as good, the Lady's are just as nice, and the men are too, just that there is a huge gap in the age range 😪.

Travel is almost normal, trains run as normal, there are more large coaches running at this moment in almost all areas. So you enjoy     

hope this helps

@martinodesa

Hi, thank you for these information. If Service ask for our telephone, what should we do?

@Redhorsedancing

Hello Redhorse, I also plan to go to Lviv soon for a one month stay.

@lerouxpierre69

Hi there, If asked to hand your phone over , you must they will ask you to open it and they will look through what ever they need to. If its the SBU, they will connect it to a lad top and check. They will only do this if, you have been seen taking photos or showing signs of shell we say dodgy actions. Do not have any sort of RUSSIAN apps, phone numbers, or holiday snaps of Moscow. If you do you will need more than your embassy to help. Lets be honest why would you need to have this on your phone anyway. The SBU if very professional, and will not get in your way, so longs as you obey the rules. If like me you speak more Russian than Ukrainian revert to English, My Russian is because were I live was and still is mostly Russian speaking, but because of the goblin over the water, most are know dumping and reverting to Ukrainian. Or my case English. 

@martinodesa

Thank you! And in the train to Lviv, does ukrainian border agents ask where we are going and our address of stay in UKR?

In answer to your question, is in short, a gable. You will be checked, it may be very quick but all foreign passport holders are put through , Interpol, Uk , and USA immigration. As in late 2021 Ukraine went all digital. Locals are being put onto the system in slow time. Visitors are put on at entry. The may ask many things, it changes day to day, but rest ashore the do a very good job.   

Hello Martin, Before marrying an ukrainian wife, what should we pay attention for? Do you know?