Emergencies

Calls to emergencies are possible free of charge from mobile phone, land line phone, public phone cell 24/7:
Firefighters – 101
Police – 102
Ambulance – 103
Gas leak emergency service – 104

Money

The National Currency is Hryvnia (Grivna in Russian spelling), shortened UAH, sign – ₴ .

1 Hryvnia equels 100 Kopiyka. There are notes of 1, 2, 5, 10, 20, 50, 100, 200, and 500 UAH. There are coins of 1, 2, 5, 10, 25, and 50 Kopiyka, and 1 Hryvnia. The National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) plans to withdraw the coins of 1 and 2 Kopiyka from circulation in the near future due their expensive production.

USA Dollars, Euros, and Russian Rubles are the most widespread foreign currencies in Ukraine – you can exchange them at every currency exchange point and in every bank.Y our passport is not required for the exchange of currency.

Please do not exchange currency to private persons standing near exchange points. They offer better exchange rate, but they are criminals. You’ll lose you money using their “service”. Additionally it is prohibited to exchange money outside of banks and official currency exchange points.

Swiss Franks, British Pounds, and other less popular currencies can be exchanged in banks only. Sometimes even small currency exchange points located in the streets or in supermarkets do exchange those currencies but with very low rates.

Make sure your foreign currency bills are new looking and crisp otherwise you’ll have to pay additionally 10% of commission for old notes exchange to the bank. Written-on, torn or crumpled banknotes are usually rejected by currency exchange points.

Personal checks practically don’t exist in Ukraine, but many places in Kiev have started to accept major credit cards like Visa or MasterCard. But it is still recommended to have cash with you as well and not to rely solely on credit cards. Only use a card to debit for cash at a safe location. Travelers’ checks could be cashed at the banks for 3%.

Always let your credit card or debit card company know you are travel to Ukraine. It’s a 2 minute phone call before you leave and could possibly save you some major hassles. It is very common to have your CC company suspend your card if you use it in Ukraine.

Make sure, your card logo is on the ATM machine. Usually ATMs offer Hryvnias. Only a few locations could offer you dollars via an ATM. Instructions are in Russian, Ukrainian or English.

Make sure the ATM you are going to use is located inside the banks or next to the banks! In other public places, like shopping malls, hotels, or ticket offices, it could be false ATM. You put your credit card inside, ATM displays message: “No connection to your bank” and return your credit card to you – your credit card information was stolen.

Real current exchange rates are published on our site in the left column – this information is updated every day automatically and reflect today’s exchange rate in majority of private currency exchange points.

Time

Ukrainian Time is +2 GMT (Greenwich Mean Time) It is altered twice a year to save electric power. The watches are set one hour forward in the last week of March and it’s called Summer Time. The watches are set one hour backward in the last week of October and it’s called Winter Time. To find out the exact time, in Kiev dial 060.

Weather

Kiev and Ukraine have a humid continental climate, characterized by large seasonal temperature differences, with harsh winters and fairly hot summers. Spring and autumn are brief but pleasant.

If good weather is important to you, a visit between May and mid-October is a good choice. May is particularly nice. It’s not too hot, the flowers are in blossom, and the city and its people begin to wake up from the winter.

The warmest months are typically June, July and August with average temperatures in the range of 18 to 19 °C. If you plan to stay during these months, it’s a good idea to ensure your accommodation has air conditioning.

The coldest months are December, January, and February with average temperatures ranging from -2 to -4 °C. Snow cover normally lasts from late November until the end of March.

Electricity

Electrical appliances operate at 220V in Ukraine. Plugs and wall sockets differ from North America and the U.K., being of European two pin style. So, don’t forget to take an International Power Adaptor and a power converter.

Traveling with electronics will become much easier. For valuable equipment, you may consider bringing a surge protector. Please note: Ukraine uses more than one type of outlet configuration: you could find European outlets (new) and old Soviet type. The difference is in the diameter of the pins. European pins are thicker then the Soviet type ones.

Measurements

In Ukraine the temperature is in Celsius (°C), weight is in grams (gr) / kilograms (kg), height is in meters (m) and kilometers (km), volumes are in liters (l).

Water

It’s not recommended to drink tap water in Kiev and other cities of Ukraine, although tap water in Kiev is better than in many European capitals. The optimal choice will be to just buy bottled water for drinking. You should be aware however that some bottled water from the smaller Kiosks can be counterfeit.

The brands like BonAqua, Prozora or Morshinska seems to be the best bet as far as getting the genuine product.

Also for cooking or drinking (after boiling) you could always use different types of filters (water purifiers) which you can get at the supermarkets or shopping malls.

Water wells (byuvyet) are located throughout Kiev and are popular especially with the seniors of the city. They are usually built in a park like setting with several old style hand pumps to accommodate whoever may want to fill up from their favorite aquifer.
Water supply in Kiev usually regular and there’s no problem with it. But from the middle of May till the end of August city is preparing pipes for the winter, so they cut the central hot water supply usually for two weeks. Different districts are disconnected in different time.

Communications

Major Mobile Operators in Ukraine are:

Kievstar GSM (also uses trade mark Djuice for cheaper service packages mentioned to young clients),
MTC (also uses trade mark Jeans for cheaper service packages mentioned to young clients),
Life : )

To call internationally the cheapest is by using service package “One World“ offered by LIFE : ) – calls to any phone number all over the world will cost you as low as US$0.25 per minute (additional monthly fees for package activation and subscription apply).

JSC Ukrtelecom is Ukraine’s monopolist government-owned telephone company, also active on other telecommunications markets like Internet service providing.
Ukraine Country Code: +380
International Call Prefix: 00 country city number
National Kiev (Kiev) Code: 044 XXX XX XX
International Kiev Code: +380 44 XXX XX XX

There are also CDMA mobile Operators in Ukraine: CDMA Ukraine (International Telecommunication Company), IT CDMA Intertelecom, U’TEL (from Ukrtelecom), PeopleNet, etc. CDMA is not popular in Ukraine though.