Just Landed in Ukraine? Your First 7 Days

Mobile internet is fast, cheap and covers 4G widely across cities and most towns; many cafes, coworking spaces and shops run generators plus Starlink to stay online through blackouts. You must register any SIM against your passport at an official store, and it is worth choosing a plan with plenty of data because it becomes your primary connection when home Wi-Fi and power fail.

Typical cost: Around 200-350 UAH per month for a plan with generous data and calls; top-up cards and app payments are everywhere

Ukraine is one of Europe's most cashless societies: contactless cards and Apple or Google Pay work in shops, taxis, cafes and even many market stalls in cities. Despite that, keep a cash buffer at all times, because power cuts knock out terminals and ATMs, and bazaars and rural vendors still prefer notes.

Opening an account: Monobank and PrivatBank are the most foreigner-friendly options; Monobank is app-only, slick and hugely popular, while PrivatBank has the largest branch and ATM network. Opening an account needs your passport and, in practice, a Ukrainian taxpayer number (RNOKPP), which you can obtain from the State Tax Service or through Diia in a few working days.

Cash: Cards dominate daily spending, but bazaars, some taxis, small rural shops and street vendors lean on cash, and cash becomes essential the moment the power goes off. Keep a mix of small and larger notes in a couple of places.

Tipping: Tipping around 10 percent is normal in restaurants; check whether a service charge (obslyhovuvannya) is already printed on the bill before adding more. Rounding up is the norm for taxis, cafes and hairdressers.

Foreigners staying long-term must register their place of residence with the State Migration Service once they hold a residence permit; this is a genuine legal requirement, not a formality, and your registered address links to banking, tax and official correspondence. Short-stay visa-free visitors do not register a residence but are limited to 90 days within any 180-day period. Under martial law, always carry your passport and permit, as document checks are common.

Deadline: Address registration is normally completed alongside issuing the residence permit rather than on a fixed post-arrival clock; complete it promptly once your permit is granted to avoid problems with banks and future renewals

Where: State Migration Service (DMS) territorial office; some related steps and your taxpayer number are available through the Diia app or an Administrative Services Centre (TsNAP/ASC)

Cities have cheap, frequent metros, trams, trolleybuses, buses and marshrutkas (shared minibuses); the Kyiv metro doubles as a bomb shelter during alerts and its deep stations fill up when the sirens sound. A single city ride costs only a few hryvnia, and ground transport typically stops before curfew, so check the last departure. Intercity travel relies on Ukrzaliznytsia trains, which run punctually and safely despite the war.

From the airport: Ukraine's airports have been closed to civilian flights throughout the war, so nearly everyone arrives overland. The usual route is a flight to Poland (Warsaw, Krakow or Rzeszow), then a bus or Ukrzaliznytsia train across the border to Lviv or Kyiv. From a station into the city, use an Uklon or Bolt taxi where the fare is fixed in the app, rather than accepting quotes from touts.

Rent is negotiated directly with owners or through agents, mostly via OLX and DIM.RIA; before signing, ask specifically about the building's shelter access, a generator, and a water backup, because these decide how liveable a flat is during strikes and blackouts. Prices fell sharply in front-line regions and rose in safer western cities like Lviv, where demand is high.

Typical rent: A one-bedroom flat runs roughly 15,000-25,000 UAH per month outside the centre and 25,000-50,000 UAH in central Kyiv or Lviv, with smaller cities noticeably cheaper

Deposit norm: Expect one month's rent as a deposit plus the first month upfront; agents commonly charge a finder's fee of up to one month's rent, so factor that into your moving budget

State healthcare is free at the point of care for emergencies and, once you sign up, for primary care, but many residents use private clinics for speed, comfort and English-speaking staff. Pharmacies (apteka) are plentiful, often open late, and dispense a wide range of medicines, some without a prescription, though controlled drugs still require one.

How to access it: For non-emergencies, book a private clinic such as Dobrobut or Boris in Kyiv, which have modern facilities and online booking; call 103 for an ambulance in an emergency, or 112 where the unified line operates. Signing a free declaration with a family doctor through the national eHealth system (via apps like Helsi) unlocks government-funded primary care and prescriptions.

Insurance: Private health insurance is relatively inexpensive and strongly recommended for expats; crucially, confirm your policy explicitly covers war-related and evacuation risks, as many standard international plans exclude injuries connected to the conflict.

• Speak Ukrainian where you can, even a few words; switching from Russian to Ukrainian is appreciated and increasingly expected as a mark of respect.
• When an air-raid alert sounds, take it seriously and follow locals to shelter rather than carrying on as if nothing is happening.
• Support and respect the military; observing the daily minute of silence at 09:00 to honour the fallen is a widely kept national custom.
• Remove your shoes when entering someone's home, and bring a small gift such as sweets, cake or flowers, always in an odd number.
• Greet with a firm handshake, keep eye contact, and use a person's name and patronymic or a polite form until invited to be casual.
• Be punctual for professional meetings and patient with warm, unhurried hospitality when visiting people socially, where refusing food can seem rude.
• Learn the Ukrainian, not Russian, place names now in common use, such as Kyiv rather than Kiev and Odesa rather than Odessa.

• Never photograph military installations, checkpoints, air-defence sites, damaged infrastructure or the aftermath of a strike; it is illegal and can be treated as assisting the enemy.
• Do not post real-time locations, photos or timings of explosions, troop movements or air-defence activity on social media, even hours later.
• Respect the nightly curfew strictly and carry ID, since patrols do stop people and penalties for violations are real.
• Avoid discussing the war dismissively, joking about it, or repeating pro-Russian talking points, which will end conversations fast.
• Do not assume Russian is a neutral default; for many people it now carries painful associations, so read the room.