Ukraine

🇺🇦 Ukraine

Kharkiv

Kharkiv (Ukrainian: Харків; Russian: Харьков) is the second-largest city in Ukraine — 1.4 million people in the northeastern corner of Ukraine, 30km from the Russian border. Kharkiv was the first capital of Soviet Ukraine (1919–1934), and its constructivist architecture from that period (the Derzhprom Building — the first Soviet skyscraper, completed 1928 — and Freedom Square, the largest city square in Ukraine and one of the largest in Europe at 12 hectares) represents the most significant Soviet modernist heritage in Ukraine. Kharkiv has been heavily affected by the Russian invasion of Ukraine (since February 2022): the city has experienced continuous missile and drone strikes, and the Kharkiv Oblast front line has shifted repeatedly. As of 2026, Kharkiv remains under Ukrainian control, but the Ukrainian government and major travel advisories advise against all civilian travel to the Kharkiv area due to ongoing Russian attacks. This guide presents the heritage and culture of Kharkiv as documentation for future visitors, once the security situation allows. Kharkiv's heritage — Freedom Square, Derzhprom, the Art Museum, the Annunciation Cathedral — is irreplaceable, and understanding it matters for both cultural and historical reasons. Best months for future visits: May–September.

🇺🇦 Ukraine

Kiev

Kyiv (Ukrainian: Київ; internationally known as Kiev — the Ukrainian government officially requested the use of 'Kyiv' in 2018, and this spelling is now standard in most Western media and government usage) is the capital of Ukraine — a city of 3.7 million people on the high western bank of the Dnieper (Dnipro) River, the founding city of the Kyivan Rus (the medieval Slavic state that gave rise to both the Ukrainian and Russian national identities (the political dispute over this shared heritage is one of the underlying cultural roots of the current Russia-Ukraine conflict)). The city's golden-domed churches and monasteries are among the finest examples of Byzantine and Ukrainian Baroque religious architecture in the world: the Kyiv Pechersk Lavra (Monastery of the Caves — a UNESCO World Heritage Site, where monks have lived in underground caves since 1051 and where the mummified remains of saints have been venerated for centuries); Saint Sophia Cathedral (UNESCO, 1037 — the best-preserved Byzantine interior in Eastern Europe, with the original 11th-century mosaics, including the famous Orans figure of the Virgin Mary); and the Saint Andrew's Church (a Baroque masterpiece designed by Bartolomeo Rastrelli, the architect of the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg). Kyiv is under active threat from Russian missiles and drones since the February 2022 invasion, but the city has remained under Ukrainian control, air raid alerts continue, and most cultural institutions remain operational. Check current travel advisories before visiting. Best months: May–September.

🇺🇦 Ukraine

Odessa

Odessa is Ukraine's largest port city, founded by Catherine the Great in 1794 on the site of a captured Ottoman fortress and built by the French emigre Duke de Richelieu (the great-nephew of Cardinal Richelieu) into one of the most beautiful neoclassical cities of the Russian Empire in just three decades. The Potemkin Stairs (192 steps, built 1837–1841, immortalised in Eisenstein's 1925 film Battleship Potemkin), the colonnaded buildings of Primorsky Boulevard and the faded elegance of the city centre reflect a 19th-century cosmopolitan port where Greek, Jewish, Italian, Moldovan and Ukrainian merchants coexisted in extraordinary cultural and commercial richness. Odessa was historically the most Jewish city in the Russian Empire (35% Jewish population by 1900), the birthplace of the Zionist movement's practical founder Ze'ev Jabotinsky, and the home of writers Isaac Babel (Odessa Tales) and Ilya Ilf. The city's catacombs (a 2,500 km network of limestone tunnels beneath the city, mined for building material in the 18th–19th centuries) served as partisan hiding places during the Nazi occupation — 73 partisans lived underground for 907 days. Since February 2022 Odessa has been under Russian missile attack (the port and grain infrastructure have been repeatedly targeted) and significant damage has been done to heritage buildings; travel advisories vary and the situation is actively evolving. Despite wartime conditions, the city's food, culture and architectural heritage remain extraordinary — the Privoz Market, Derybasivska Street, the opera house and the catacombs are all open when security permits.