Is it dangerous to travel to Ukraine during the war?

There is tourism in Ukraine even during the undeclared war as there foreigners come into the country. Some of them are traveling on business, some come to visit relatives, friends and acquaintances. These people go to the peaceful towns of Ukraine, often arriving in Kiev and then they travel to regions. Level of risk has not changed significantly for this category of tourists as the most cities in the country live a in peace. Only news reports from Donbas region have a depressing effect to people and the number of dead relatives, acquaintances, and friends every day that conflict increases. Foreigners who come to Ukraine has some bonus as their purchasing power has increased almost threefold over 2014 and the beginning of 2015 as the hryvna’s rate has changed from 8 to almost 25 hryvna for one dollar. Now European needy in Ukraine looks very wealthy man and the first guy in the village.

There are no real risks to the personal safety of foreigners who visiting all regions of Ukraine with the exception of Donetsk, Lugansk and Crimea. The trip is not more risky than for people who are traveling to the resorts of Israel, Egypt or Turkey. But we strongly recommend not to visit Donetsk and Lugansk regions to avoid risks to life and health.

Another part of the "tourists" are coming to earn money on the bloody military conflict in the Donetsk and Lugansk region. This is mainly mercenaries of all stripes from Russia and some European countries (Serbia, and similar) where is some part of sympathizers of Putin and his policies. Usually these people look Russian propaganda channels and believe the information that there is shown. Some of these people are gullible and suggestible fanatics, another part are assassins without permanent income. No one ever guarantee security to this category of tourists as on the one hand army of Ukraine gladly destroy them as soon as possible in the area of combat operations on the other hand the special services of Ukraine are trying to find and neutralize such tourists on the Ukrainian authorities controlled territory.

Security of travel to Ukraine is heavily dependent on the purpose of the visit and the region to which you plan to travel. Truth is that the criminal situation in Ukraine in general little worse than was before the war it concerns the peaceful regions. The number of motor vehicles thefts, burglaries and crimes involving firearms increased a bit. Also there appeared new kind of crime as a terrorist act which previously was almost unknown in Ukraine. That is a consequence of brotherly Russian assistance.

During half a year Ukraine signed the agreement twice in Minsk with Russian officials on a ceasefire and a peaceful settlement of the crisis. In this case, every time Ukraine made concessions. The matter is that negotiation with Russia does not cost anything as Russia never perform things which are agreed and as a consequence of hostilities after Minsk 1 or 2 after Minsk is not over. It is likely that Russia will prolong this crisis for a long time. So it does not make sense to postpone your visits to the peaceful regions of Ukraine for potential guests of Ukraine as it may not occur soon. There are no special risks to visit Ukraine. Please do not be afraid of travelling in peaceful regions of Ukraine. Also it is not worth watching and listening to Russian television as there is no truth about Ukraine. There is a continuous propaganda and distortion of reality.

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