‘They can see smoke rising from the front line’. How Ukrainian travel companies are meeting foreigners’ demand for war tourism

Meduza.io

Spanish tourist Alberto Blasco Ventas near the destroyed bridge over the Irpin River in the Kyiv region. November 7, 2024.

A new article from the outlet Hromadske explores an emerging trend in Ukraine: organized tourist excursions to sites that saw heavy fighting earlier in Russia’s full-scale invasion. While these tours, which typically cost between 150 and 250 euros ($155–260), are not officially sanctioned by the Ukrainian authorities, the government’s State Agency for Tourism Development is working on a series of lectures and a book for guides to ensure that tours are “standardized” and based on accurate information. Meduza shares an English-language summary of Hromadske’s reporting.

Svetozar Moiseyev, a tour guide from a Kyiv-based travel agency called Capital Tour, said he first received requests for war-themed tours in 2023. To meet the demand, Moiseyev developed a six-hour tour called “The Horrors of Russian Occupation,” which included visits to Bucha, Irpin, Borodyanka, Hostomel, and Moshchun in the Kyiv region, all of which saw intense fighting at the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion. The tour is usually conducted for one person and occasionally for pairs.

According to Moiseyev, he begins his tours by recounting his experience of surviving a missile strike in Kyiv in the war’s first hours. He then shows photos of towns and villages in the Kyiv region taken after the end of the Russian occupation in the spring of 2022, contrasting them with how these places look now. He highlights the bridge over the Irpin River, which was blown up at the start of the war to prevent Russian forces from advancing on Kyiv.

---

Meduza has condemned Russia’s invasion of Ukraine from the very start, and we are committed to reporting objectively on a war we firmly oppose. Join Meduza in its mission to challenge the Kremlin’s censorship with the truth. Donate today.

---

Kyivtrip, another travel company, also offers war-themed tours. These include excursions in downtown Kyiv, where visitors are shown the aftermath of Russian attacks, and in the wider Kyiv region, including Bucha, Irpin, and Borodyanka, according to company director Vitaly Senyakov.

War Tours, a company that opened after the full-scale invasion began, organizes excursions in both the Kyiv and Kharkiv regions. The company’s guides in Kharkiv show visitors the city’s most heavily damaged districts as well as destroyed military equipment. “From one high-rise building, they can see smoke rising from the front line just 20 kilometers (12 miles) away,” said the company’s founder, Dmytro Nikiforov. He advises foreigners against heading straight to Kharkiv, recommending they first spend time in Kyiv to “get used to the curfew and air raid alerts.”

Six months after the Bucha massacre

• 'It feels like sacred ground' A dispatch from Bucha — more than six months after Russian atrocities changed it forever

Most war tourists come from the U.S., Canada, Australia, Japan, and European countries. The clientele is predominantly male — around 80 percent, according to Hromadske. All of the guides who spoke to the outlet emphasized that their clients visit “not just out of curiosity but also to show their support for Ukrainians.” During tours, they said, some visitors chat with local residents, gift them power banks, or donate money to people whose homes have been destroyed. While the tourists often photograph destroyed buildings, Hromadske notes, they generally refrain from taking selfies.

War-themed excursions are not a daily occurrence. Vitaly Senyakov from Kyivtrip said his company has conducted seven war tours in the past year. Dmytro Nikiforov from War Tours, meanwhile, said he’s organized about 30 tours in two years, with demand dropping in winter to just one tour per month. Svetozar Moiseyev from Capital Tour said that he runs war tours every few weeks, but that they’re generally for travelers already in Kyiv for personal or business reasons rather than tourists coming specifically to see battle sites.

Tours in the Kyiv region cost around 150 euros ($155) across all three companies, while War Tours charges 250 euros ($260) for trips to Kharkiv. A portion of the proceeds is donated to the Ukrainian Armed Forces. All three guides stressed that they warn clients about the risks involved. They said that some agencies offer tours in eastern or southern Ukraine for 2,000–3,000 euros ($2,170–3,110), but they distanced themselves from these practices, calling them “unprofessional and extremely dangerous.”

Atrocities in the Kyiv region

• ‘They gave their rations to the people in the basement, then threw down a grenade’ Bucha City Council Deputy Kateryna Ukraintseva describes life under Russian occupation.

Mariana Oleskiv, the head of Ukraine’s State Agency for Tourism Development, told Hromadske that “the state does not invite foreigners to Ukraine for tourism because it is dangerous.” However, in the weeks following the liberation of the Kyiv region, her agency began considering the development of “memory routes.”

“First, we have a duty to preserve the memory of the war and pass it on to future generations. Second, foreigners are interested in this topic. And perhaps the best way to engage them is through visits to war-related sites,” Oleskiv said.

The Tourism Agency has collaborated with Ukraine’s National History Museum to develop a series of lectures for Ukrainian guides specializing in war tours. These lectures will cover topics such as the defense of Kyiv and how Ukrainian forces repelled Russian attacks. Oleskiv emphasized that the tours should be “standardized and based on verified information.” In the future, she said, the agency also plans to publish a guidebook for tour operators.