In late April 1986, the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in the Ukrainian town of Pripyat had a catastrophic accident that caused one of the reactors to leak radiation at an alarming rate. The plant and town were evacuated, and other than a brave group of scientists and construction workers, the area has been abandoned ever …
In Central Ukraine’s Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, Kryvyi Rih is a working city that doesn’t receive many tourists. The main employers are the iron mining and metallurgy industries due to the rich deposits of iron deep underground. Beginning in the 1800s this gave rise to a column of headframes and blast furnaces than 130 kilometres long. You …
The industrial city of Zaporizhia in southeastern Ukraine is rather young, having only sprouted in the 1920s and 1930s. The catalyst for this development was the Dnieper Hydroelectric Dam, which made this section of the river navigable for the first time, and powered the city’s new heavy industry. Neighbourhoods were built quickly, in the Soviet …
Founded by Catherine the Great towards the end of the 18th century, Dnipro (formerly Dnipropetrovsk) is a city that grew on the back of a burgeoning manufacturing industry. Foundries, vehicle factories, weapons manufacturers and later an aerospace industry have been the backbone of Dnipro’s economy. And the plush mansions for the 19th-century industrialists and the …
Established by Imperial decree at the end of the 18th century, Odessa quickly flourished as a crucial port on the Black Sea. In the 19th century Odessa was the most populous city in the future Ukraine, and was inhabited by titans of the age like the writer Alexander Pushkin and Field Marshall Vorontsov who made …
The old city of Lviv in western Ukraine is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, at the crossroads of cultures and jam packed with historic architecture. Being on a key trade route made Lviv very cosmopolitan in medieval times: Ukrainians, Poles, Armenians, Jews and Germans mixed here for hundreds of years, at a time when this …
Ukraine’s second city is in the east of the country in the region of the same name. Internationally Kharkiv is associated with manufacturing and commerce, a reputation that has persisted since it was the third-largest centre of industry in the USSR. As for tourism, Kharkiv was never directly affected by the recent conflict in eastern …
Ukraine’s capital is a green metropolis on flowing hills next to the Dnieper River. In the middle ages Kiev was the capital of an enormous state occupying a big tranche of Eastern Europe, and you can enter monasteries and cathedrals stemming from this golden age. There’s no denying that Kiev has seen some tough times, …
At the confluence of the Inhulets and Southern Bug Rivers, Mykolaiv is a port and shipbuilding city where the Black Sea Fleet was assembled in the 19th century. Mykolaiv’s history begins in 1789 when Grigory Potemkin ordered a port here after Russia acquired new territory on the Black Sea following the Russian-Turkish War. The city …
Under visited and less touristy than other parts of Europe, Ukraine is a colorful and proud country perched on the Black Sea, full of rugged beaches, wild forest, and craggy mountain plains. With a history full of folk traditions and diverse cultural influences, Ukraine offers travelers ski resorts, modern cities, and traditional villages, many of …