Is Ukraine open to tourists again?

[two_black_cats 114]

On 10/2/2020 at 11:35 PM, frodolives said:

My boyfriend (who is from Russia), and I are trying to find a place where we can meet that isn’t closed to tourism. We have considered Ukraine. I know they closed the borders from August 28 to September 28; but I recently saw on the Embassy website that US citizens, and other foreigners, are now allowed to enter and have the option to either quarantine, or present a PCR test with a negative result to avoid the quarantine. I believe I’d also need to buy health insurance specifically for covid costs. Does this mean that they’re completely open for tourism now as long as you have the proper documentation?

Ukraine is open to tourists as of September 28. As far I know land crossings to other countries are restricted for Russians as per 763р http://government.ru/docs/39307/ (it's in Russian). So Russians who are not in exclusions list can only fly if they want to leave Russia. Now there are no direct flights from Russia to Ukraine. So he'll need to fly to Turkey (more affordable) and then to Ukraine. Then in Ukraine as someone said there are two lists of countries - green and red, as of September 19 Russia is green, so he wouldn't need to download the app ( not sure now that russian cases are rising). US of course is red, so americans will need to show negative pcr test or download the app. Yes, you need Ukrainian number to use it. Now you can possibly talk to the guy/girl in the booth and explain that you don't have the number and promise to get it when you can. With me they understood and I just went through. You'll either need to cuarantine for 14 days or take PCR test,  cost 1800 grivnas, results come in about 3 days, you cuarantine until the results and then have to get the results in the app and they just stop counting your cuarantine days, ( it's a very shitty app, so you might have problems with that). With all that said, the cost of tickets, tests and provided male Russian can even get in Ukraine it sure doesn't seem like it'll be that much more economical. Seems to me like Turkey is much better option. But anyway good luck! And do check flights from the States to Ukraine. In july it was a nightmare of a flight! I hope I explained well.

[SteveInBostonI130 3,471]

"DII VDOMA" app can be installed and run with any phone number, not just Ukrainian.  I just tested it and it works fine here in Boston.

 

A good website with travel information for Ukraine:

 

https://visitukraine.today/

[gregcrs2 1,778]

1 hour ago, SteveInBostonI130 said:

"DII VDOMA" app can be installed and run with any phone number, not just Ukrainian.  I just tested it and it works fine here in Boston.

 

A good website with travel information for Ukraine:

 

https://visitukraine.today/

Unless something has changed since then, it did not work for me in September.  At that time, the confirmation code could only be sent to a Ukrainian phone number.  When you say you tested it, did you get a confirmation code?

[SteveInBostonI130 3,471]

7 hours ago, gregcrs2 said:

Unless something has changed since then, it did not work for me in September.  At that time, the confirmation code could only be sent to a Ukrainian phone number.  When you say you tested it, did you get a confirmation code?

Yes.  And I got to the screen to enter the 4 lines of information to show to the border agent, and then button to press after they saw my information.

Edited October 14, 2020 by SteveInBostonI130
typo

[SteveInBostonI130 3,471]

I discovered something today.

 

There is one complication if you use DII VDOMA with a non-Ukrainian number.  The app will require authentication via code texted to the number you enter, every time you start it up until you get past the border check.  This means international roaming for text is needed to get the code at the airport in Kyiv.

[Paul&Anna 26]

App worked fine yesterday and today. I am in Kiev and using my American phone number. 

[SteveInBostonI130 3,471]

Awesome!