Update : see comment by 
Eight years ago I made my first visit to Ukraine. The company I used to work for had an office there and they wanted me to spend some time with that team. It was definitely an interesting experience. I hadn't been to any countries that used to be in the old USSR before.
My apartment for that first stay overlooked the Maidan square that would be the scene of anti-government protests a few years later. It was a very nice apartment with more than enough space for me.
My colleagues took me out to see some sights that included this arch symbolising friendship with Russia. I know that feeling has changed.
I did some exploring on my own too. One weekend I took a very long walk to the Motherland monument. This huge statue has a war museum under it.
This was directly under the base.
There was a lot of old infrastructure that was still working, like this funicular railway. A lot of older people didn't speak English, but I managed to bluff my way around.
Three years later I was back for another visit. I met up with my colleagues in a park with a big wheel.
There were some visible changes since my previous visit. People were driving better cars and there had been some building work. My accommodation was not as luxurious this time, but I expect that was due to rising prices. I had a much smaller flat, but still fairly central. These were the old stairs. The lobby areas were not so well maintained.
I had to find my own food to cook. I eventually found a nice supermarket in the complex behind this statue. There were a lot of underground shopping areas. There's one under Maidan and others that connected with it via tunnels. I expect people use those to get around in winter. Note the rainbow. That's the music college on the right.
The main shopping street is very grand. There was a big old department store along there, but it had closed by my second visit.
At weekends the road was closed to traffic and lots of people would stroll there. I saw people playing football and a wedding party passed me on rollerskates.
This fascinating building is near the parliament. It's covered in animal statues and is called the House of Chimeras.
There are some lovely big parks. One of them contains the home stadium of Dynamo Kiev soccer team. I found I could read some of the signs once I had learned some of the Cyrillic alphabet. When you figured out the sounds a lot of the words were very similar to English. The part in quotes is pronounced Dynamo.
This is at the Puppet Theatre. Some cool statues there, but I didn't see a show.
There are lots of spectacular churches.
I had a day out with some colleagues at a museum that recreates various old buildings from rural Ukraine. They had some wooden churches and I think those are beehives in the foreground.
There's cool sculpture park in the city.
I also visited the old fort.
It was definitely an interesting experience to visit this city and I'm sure there have been further changes since I was there. I understand the big protests were confined to a fairly small area. Ukraine as a country is catching up with richer western countries. I wish them the best with this. I really don't know if I will get back there. There are lots of places I want to visit.
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