Kiev (Ukrainian: Kyiv, Russian: Kiev) is the capital and largest city of Ukraine with officially over 2.7 million inhabitants (unofficially up to 4 million inhabitants). The city is in north central Ukraine on the Dnieper River (Ukrainian: io, Russian: ). The common English name for the city (“Kiev”) is historical. By the late 9th century, Kiev had become the de facto capital of an emerging Eastern Slavic state. Between the 10th and early 13th centuries, the city reached its golden age as the capital of the first Ukrainian state known today as Kievan Rus, (Kyivan Ruthenia, or Rus Ukraine). This state created the religious and cultural foundations for modern Ukraine, Belarus, and Russia.

In the middle of the 13th century, Kievan Rus was overrun by the Mongols. Later that century, Kiev became part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. In 1569 the city was absorbed into the Polish Lithuanian Commonwealth and in 1654 it was liberated from that Commonwealth by the Cossack, Hetman Bohdan Khmelnytsky, who then promptly signed the city over to Russia. This action continues to be a sore point for Ukrainian nationalists.

In 1775, Kiev was annexed by the Russian Empire. The city remained under Russian rule, with brief but uncertain periods of independence between 1918 and 1920. Over these two centuries, Kiev experienced growing Russification and Russian immigration. After the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, it became the capital of independent Ukraine and is now discovering its place as a large European capital.

It is generally acknowledged that the population is over 3,000,000 (2006 estimates). About 85% claim Ukrainian ethnicity and about 12% Russian. However, the census numbers are believed to be unreliable so these percentages must be taken with a pinch of Air Jordan 10s salt. There are many minorities in the city, including Armenians, Azeris, Belarussians, Jewish, Georgians, Polish, Romanians and Tatars. Since 2001, not only has the population of Kiev increased, but also the percentage of people claiming Ukrainian ethnicity. This is probably a result of the strong nationalist movement centred in Kiev during the Orange Revolution (October 2004 to January 2005).

Officially, all signs are in Ukrainian only. Since 2011, signs with Latin transliteration have been installed in the city center. Although many people continue to speak Russian, even most of these are ethnically Ukrainian, as most of the ethnic Russian population has returned home since independence. Hearing Ukrainian on the streets is now increasingly common.

According to the national census taken in 2001, about 93% of the population has a secondary education, and nearly 46% received higher education.

Average temperatures are maximum 26C (79F) / minimum 15C (59F) in summer and maximum 2C (28F) / minimum 8C (17F) in winter. Spring and autumn can be very brief. Heat waves featuring temperatures as high as 38C (100F) are rare but not unheard of in the summer months and brief but potent cold spells with temperatures as low as 20C ( 4F) are not uncommon in winter.

In general the people in Kiev are hospitable and will be eager to help you. However, if you don’t have a knowledge of Ukrainian or Russian you may find service in restaurants and shops difficult, although this will change with time as more people begin to study English.

Get in[edit]There are so many ways to transport around Kyiv, but the fastest, cheapest, and in some ways, safest way to travel is in fact the Kyiv Metro system. The Kiev metro system is a complex but user friendly underground rail road tunnel and by far, the fastest way to get around kyiv with a honking one and a half million passengers a day. You get in the metro. Pay about 2 hryvna for a ticket, and you are at your destination in a matter of minutes because of the speed of the Metro, and you get to enjoy getting stuck between 9300 other people in that one Metro train. Payments can be made in Metro tokens, or Zhetonn in Russian. With working hours from 6 AM to 12 PM, people can travel to their destinations quick and with time to spare.

Airlines operating to/from KBP include Ukraine’s major international airline Ukraine International Airlines (o Mizhnarodni Avialiniyi Ukrayiny), as well as Aeroflot, Alitalia, Austrian Airlines, British Airways, Czech Airlines, Estonian Air, Finnair [1], KLM [2], LOT [3], Lufthansa [4], Turkish Airlines [5], and AirBaltic . There are occasional budget charters from Italy, and in summer, Ukrainian Mediterranean Airlines runs charters to destinations including Italy and Turkey. As of 2013, there is no non stop service from North America. The last non stop airlines that had routes were Aerosvit and Delta.

Boryspil Airport has 3 terminals in operation: B, D, and F. Most international flights arrive in the terminals D or F, whereas terminal B is used for domestic flights. Terminal B is much older than F and dates back to Soviet times, but in fact they differ in small details only. Both terminal B and F are very cramped and inconvenient, while terminal D is newer and larger. Expect Air Jordan 7s long queues at the immigration control, which is inevitably haphazard. Despite separate lanes for Ukraine citizens, ‘non visa’, and ‘visa’ passengers, few booths are usually in operation so getting through immigration can take over 30 minutes.

The simplest way to get to the city centre from Boryspil (KBP) is the Sky Bus [6], which operates a regular bus service between the airport and Central Railway station. Buses depart every 15 minutes during rush hour, [7] or every 45 minutes in the middle of the night, 24 hours per day, and the cost is UAH40.

The journey to the city centre takes 50 to 70 minutes. The buses stop in the front of every terminal (B,D,F). Buses terminate at the southern side of the railway station. To get Air Jordan 23s to the metro (Vokzalna station) from the bus stop, enter the railway terminal, follow the bridge over the railway, leave the building, and turn left.

For taxis, the minimum price to the city centre is about UAH250 when you book in advance. The official taxi service at the airport (Sky Taxi [8]) is slightly more expensive (UAH6.50/km). It is mostly served by budget airlines. Wizzair is the major airline operating to this airport.

From Zhulyany (IEV) you can use Kiev’s public transport to reach your accommodation or the train station. There are two terminals they are around 1km away of each other. They’re connected by trolleybus no. 22 that takes you further to downtown. From old terminal (domestic) you can also walk (c. 500m) to Volynsky trian station and take regional train (elektrichka) to main railway station.

Kiev’s central railway station Kiev Passazhyrskyi ( ) is close to the city centre. Metro station Vokzalna (o “o”) on the M1 line connects to the railway terminal. The terminal building straddles numerous railway tracks, and effectively comprises two separate buildings adjoined by a bridge. The building on the northern side (next to the metro station) is the main station. The building on the southern side is, respectively, the south station with its own ticket office and hotel. Public transport stops on both sides of the railway. Buses and trolleybuses to the city centre depart from the main building, buses to the Boryspil and Zhulyany airports operate from the southern station. Finally, suburban trains may also depart from a small station Pivnichna (ii) located under the square adjoining the main station. This station is separated from the other two buildings and has its own entrance equipped with turnstiles.

To Air Jordan CDP travel from Kiev by train, be sure to buy tickets in advance. All train tickets inscribed, while boarding the train need to show your passport.

Regular trains from Kiev steadily declining, so in the summer you need to buy tickets for 2 months. Schedule [10]. E ticket are sold on the websites [11]. Printout e ticket be exchanged at the ticket in the desk at the train station and show your passport.

Direct day and night trains are available from all major cities and towns in Ukraine [12]. There are five daily departures from Dnipropetrovsk (5 9h) and up to ten from Lviv (9h) with an express train departing 06:35 except Tuesdays and taking just six hours. The eastern city of Donetsk is only served by night trains taking 12 hours. Connections with the Black Sea region Crimea are plentiful, most night trains depart from Simferopol (14h, from UAH300, 2nd class) but some originate in Sevastopol (16 h) as well. Prices for domestic train ranges between 90 120 UAH for seats and from UAH250 for second class sleeper. To Kharkiv 2nd class seat by intercity 4 h, 256 UAH (2013).

There are good international connections with central Europe and Russia. Departures from Belgrade (36 h), Budapest (24 h), Bratislava (29 h), Chisinau (15 h), Minsk (12 h), Prague (35 h), Sofia (37 h) via Bucharest (26 h) and Warsaw (16 h) are nightly. From Moscow there are a multitude of trains with the fastest one being Metropolitan Express taking just 8 hours. Saint Petersburg is also well served with an overnight train taking 23 hours. Berlin (22 h) have nightly Air Jordan 1s connections during summer while departures from Vienna (34 h) are nightly Mon Thu. There is also a connection from Venice (45 h) via Ljubljana (41 h) once a week, departing Thursdays.

More exotic cities with infrequent departures include Astana (73 h, Thu), Baku (64 h, Wed) and Murmansk (61 h, seasonal). And if you are looking for a real journey, hop on train 133E linking Kiev with Vladivostok. It’s one of the longest journeys possible by train, taking eight nights!