Ein bisschen Frieden.... (1982)
Is Ukraine safe?
One question people living here are asked by people abroad is: How safe is Ukraine?
One answer is: How safe is anywhere these days? In short the average tourist will have a safe and great time in Kyiv.
There are two issues to tackle: the conflict in the East and general crime.
Ukraine is a huge country. The biggest in Europe. On the conflict it's important to stress both the Crimea and the occupied areas of Donetsk and Luhansk are a long way away. The traveller is unlikely to get a sense of the conflict from the streets of Kyiv. The city looks and feels like many other central European capitals.
That's not to say there are underlying worries. Around 10,000 people have been killed in the conflict in the east since April 2014, and over a million people from the east have moved into Ukraine as internally displaced people. But to find those you have to speak Ukrainian, and either watch TV news, or speak to locals.
TIP: If you want to keep a watch on the situation then follow the local English language newspaper Kyiv Post www.kyivpost.com/ or follow the tourist travel advice of your government such as the UK Foreign Office travel advice.
Today this site says for example that 55,000 trips were made to Ukraine last year by people with British passports and most were trouble free.
Statistics show crime is also a problem. But this is mainly Ukrainian-Ukrainian crime. A recent survey showed for example that the metro station that reports the most crimes is the one linked to the main train station. Therefore a focus on internal travel. International tourists are not targeted to any significant level. There is limited begging, but very often this is people surviving on pensions, or wanting money for health care. So it is not focussed on tourists. As in any big global city, just stay vigilant and mind your bags, and you will be fine.
At the same time the police are going through a large scale modernisation and reform programme. Young people and especially women are being recruited to tackle the petty corruption that used to be rife in the past. Young policemen in shorts now patrol the city on mountain bikes to provide a more accessible presence to the public.
What personal safety tips would you give to people coming to Kyiv for the first time?
Is Ukraine safe?
One question people living here are asked by people abroad is: How safe is Ukraine?
One answer is: How safe is anywhere these days? In short the average tourist will have a safe and great time in Kyiv.
There are two issues to tackle: the conflict in the East and general crime.
Ukraine is a huge country. The biggest in Europe. On the conflict it's important to stress both the Crimea and the occupied areas of Donetsk and Luhansk are a long way away. The traveller is unlikely to get a sense of the conflict from the streets of Kyiv. The city looks and feels like many other central European capitals.
That's not to say there are underlying worries. Around 10,000 people have been killed in the conflict in the east since April 2014, and over a million people from the east have moved into Ukraine as internally displaced people. But to find those you have to speak Ukrainian, and either watch TV news, or speak to locals.
TIP: If you want to keep a watch on the situation then follow the local English language newspaper Kyiv Post www.kyivpost.com/ or follow the tourist travel advice of your government such as the UK Foreign Office travel advice.
Today this site says for example that 55,000 trips were made to Ukraine last year by people with British passports and most were trouble free.
Statistics show crime is also a problem. But this is mainly Ukrainian-Ukrainian crime. A recent survey showed for example that the metro station that reports the most crimes is the one linked to the main train station. Therefore a focus on internal travel. International tourists are not targeted to any significant level. There is limited begging, but very often this is people surviving on pensions, or wanting money for health care. So it is not focussed on tourists. As in any big global city, just stay vigilant and mind your bags, and you will be fine.
At the same time the police are going through a large scale modernisation and reform programme. Young people and especially women are being recruited to tackle the petty corruption that used to be rife in the past. Young policemen in shorts now patrol the city on mountain bikes to provide a more accessible presence to the public.
What personal safety tips would you give to people coming to Kyiv for the first time?
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