Yes, you can travel to Ukraine at the moment: the land borders are open, German citizens enter visa-free for 90 days, and trains and long-distance buses run from Poland every day. Germany's Federal Foreign Office (Auswärtiges Amt) warns against travel but does not forbid it. You need a passport, health insurance that is valid in Ukraine, and an awareness that the country is at war: air-raid alerts, a curfew and checkpoints are part of everyday life.
Are German citizens allowed to enter Ukraine?
Yes. No German law prohibits the trip, and nobody is stopped at the German or Polish border. Ukraine admits foreign nationals under martial law as well — for tourism, family visits, business trips, volunteer work and reporting. What is required is a valid passport (Reisepass; the German ID card, the Personalausweis, is not enough) and health insurance covering Ukrainian territory. The details are in the guide Entering Ukraine as a German citizen.
What does the Federal Foreign Office travel warning mean?
The travel warning (Reisewarnung) is urgent advice, not a ban. It has applied to Ukraine since 2022 and has three practical consequences:
- Insurance: many German travel and international health insurance policies do not apply in countries under a travel warning, or contain a war exclusion clause (Kriegsklausel). The guide on German travel health insurance explains why.
- Consular assistance: the German Embassy in Kyiv is operating, but its options are limited in a war zone. Assistance under the German Consular Act has to be repaid.
- Package holidays: booked package holidays can as a rule be cancelled free of charge when a travel warning is in force — this hardly matters to independent travellers.
The Federal Foreign Office recommends that anyone who travels anyway registers on the ELEFAND crisis-preparedness list and takes out health insurance that explicitly includes Ukraine.
How do you get there when the airspace is closed?
By land only: Ukrainian airspace has been closed to civil flights since February 2022. You enter via Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania or the Republic of Moldova. The most used options are the train via Przemyśl to Lviv (around 2 hours) and Kyiv (9–10 hours), the night train from Warsaw, and direct buses from many German cities. Routes, journey times and indicative prices are in the guide Getting to Ukraine from Germany.
Which regions can be reached and which cannot?
| Region | Situation (as of September 2026) |
|---|---|
| Lviv, Uzhhorod, Ivano-Frankivsk (west) | Comparatively calm, occasional air-raid alerts, largely normal daily life |
| Kyiv | Open and busy, recurring missile and drone attacks, shelters everywhere |
| Odesa | Reachable, frequent attacks on the port and infrastructure |
| Kharkiv, Zaporizhzhia, Dnipro | Close to the front, attacks almost daily; not advisable without a professional reason |
| Donetsk, Luhansk, parts of Kherson, Crimea | Occupied or combat zone: entry not possible or not permitted |
The situation changes; before you leave, check the current advice from the Federal Foreign Office and local news.
Can you travel to Crimea or the occupied territories?
No, not legally via Russia. Under Ukrainian law, entry to Crimea and the occupied territories is permitted only through Ukrainian-controlled territory; those crossings have been closed since 2022. Anyone who enters via Russian territory breaks Ukrainian law and must expect a multi-year entry ban for Ukraine. The policy is not valid in the occupied territories.
How should you behave during air-raid alerts and the curfew?
- Install the app «Повітряна тривога» (Air Alert) and select your region: it reports the start and the end of each alert.
- During an alert, follow the locals: metro stations, underground car parks and shelters marked with the sign «Укриття».
- Observe the curfew: in Kyiv from midnight to 5 a.m., different in other regions. More in the guide Curfew in Ukraine.
- Do not photograph soldiers, checkpoints, bridges, power stations or impact sites: it is prohibited and it is checked.
What do I need for the trip?
- Passport, valid for the whole stay.
- Health insurance for Ukraine, ideally with war risk: the Complete plan costs €24.75 for 14 days (€30,000 sum insured), and the PDF arrives by email in about 15 minutes. Calculate the price and buy.
- ELEFAND registration and the embassy's contact details saved on your phone.
- Train or bus tickets booked in advance; trains from Przemyśl are often sold out days ahead.
Is the trip safe?
That depends on where you go and how you behave. In the western cities and in the capital the greatest risk comes from air strikes, which mainly hit infrastructure; taking the alerts seriously reduces the danger considerably. Near the front the risk is high, and travelling there without an organisation behind you does not make sense. Insurance does not remove the risk — it makes sure that treatment, evacuation and repatriation are paid for. You will find more answers in the frequently asked questions.