eSIM Ukraine
Ukraine eSIM from 1,95€ on the KyivStar, Vodafone Ukraine networks: 1 to 20 GB or unlimited, prepaid, no contract and no registration, online from the border crossing all the way to Kyiv.
Fair Use Policy
2GB highspeed/day, then unlimited at 1Mbps
Your Selection
Your plan only starts counting when the eSIM first connects at your destination — so you can buy today and travel in three weeks.
How does Simbye eSIM work for Ukraine?
Get connected in under 2 minutes
Set it up before you leave
After your purchase you get an email with a link and a QR code. Set the eSIM up while you still have Wi-Fi, ideally at home. Nothing is used up, and the validity does not start.
Getting into Ukraine
There are no flights: Ukrainian airspace has been closed since 2022. Lviv, Kyiv Boryspil and Kyiv Zhuliany are being prepared for a reopening, but as things stand nothing lands there. Practically everyone arrives overland — the night train from Przemyśl in Poland to Lviv or Kyiv, buses from Rzeszów, Kraków or Warsaw airports, from Chișinău in Moldova towards Odesa, or from Budapest and Slovakia to Uzhhorod. That is why setting the eSIM up in advance matters: there is no Wi-Fi at the border crossing.
Switch it on across the border
Turn on data roaming for the eSIM and leave network selection on automatic. At the western crossings you have normal coverage. The moment your phone connects to a Ukrainian network for the first time, the validity starts. If nothing arrives after a few minutes, toggle airplane mode on and off, then pick a different network manually.
Check Device Compatibility
Make sure your device supports eSIM before purchasing
Which networks will you be on in Ukraine?
KyivStar, Vodafone Ukraine cover the country — here is how your eSIM picks between them and where coverage ends.
The Simbye eSIM uses 2 networks in Ukraine: KyivStar · Vodafone.
KyivStar
Vodafone
Source: nPerf averages, 01.01.2025 – 31.12.2025.
The eSIM picks its network by itself. Once you are across the border it connects to a Ukrainian partner network — KyivStar, Vodafone Ukraine (formerly MTS Ukraine) or . If you specifically want KyivStar: you cannot lock the eSIM to one operator, but you can pick one by hand. There is only one thing to set: switch data roaming on for the eSIM, otherwise nothing happens. If reception is poor in one spot, open, your phone's mobile network settings, switch network selection from automatic to manual and try another network from the list. If it does not connect there, switch back to automatic. That usually helps more than restarting. The three operators have also built national roaming between each other. That is meant for Ukrainian contracts, though — as a visitor, do not count on it.
Coverage is solid where travellers actually go: Kyiv, Lviv, Odesa, Dnipro, Vinnytsia, Poltava, Ivano-Frankivsk, Chernivtsi and Uzhhorod, plus the Carpathians around Bukovel and Yaremche and all of Zakarpattia. 5G is still only a pilot: Lviv, Kharkiv and Borodianka since 2025 — around 300 base stations nationwide, and the trial runs until the end of 2026. So count on 4G, not 5G. There is no Ukrainian network in the occupied territories or in the frontline areas in the east and south. At the western border crossings — from Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, Moldova — you have normal coverage.
eSIM or a local SIM card in Ukraine?
The eSIM is the sensible one for Ukraine: it connects on your first signal across the border, while a local card is registered to your scanned passport in a shop — and with no flights, there are no airport kiosks.
What roaming on your home plan really costs in Ukraine
Roaming on your own contract is the expensive option in Ukraine for most travellers, above all the opaque one: what a gigabyte costs is buried somewhere in your provider's price list, you only find out after the trip. Three things catch people out. First, your data abroad is usually tied to your domestic allowance — anyone on three or five gigabytes a month is through it after a few days of navigation, video calls and uploads. Second, providers cap permanent roaming once you stay longer than a few weeks. Third, the calls and texts that reach your home number while you are in the country cost you as well.
With the eSIM the price is settled in advance: you pick 1 to 20 gigabytes or an unlimited plan and 7 to 30 days, pay once with your own card and get a link and QR code by email. Setting it up takes a few minutes, the validity only starts when the eSIM first connects to a Ukrainian network — so you can prepare it calmly at home days before you leave. Then comes the part that has nothing to do with price: a Ukrainian SIM card from a shop is these days registered to your passport, with your ID scanned on the spot. This eSIM is not. And your number from home stays switched on alongside it, so calls and verification texts still arrive.
Where the networks reach — and where they do not
KyivStar, Vodafone Ukraine share the country between them. Which of the three works best where you are differs from place to place — so if reception is poor, it is worth picking another network by hand. You have reliable coverage in Kyiv, Lviv, Odesa, Dnipro, Vinnytsia, Poltava, Ivano-Frankivsk, Chernivtsi and Uzhhorod, in the Carpathians around Bukovel and Yaremche and across Zakarpattia — in other words wherever visitors normally go. You also have coverage at the western border crossings that practically everyone arrives through. 5G is still a pilot run by the three operators: Lviv, Kharkiv and Borodianka since 2025, around 300 base stations nationwide, trial running until the end of 2026. Plan for 4G.
What you should know before relying on any plan at all: in Ukraine your connection depends more on electricity than on the operator. After attacks on the power grid there are outages, operators are required to keep their base stations running on battery for at least ten hours. During long blackouts it still gets tight, because batteries do not always fully recharge between cuts and everyone switches to mobile internet at once — Vodafone has deliberately throttled its network load during such periods. Between themselves the three have built national roaming that cushions larger failures — that applies to Ukrainian contracts, not automatically to travel eSIMs. Also not for you: the satellite connection KyivStar has offered together with Starlink since late 2025 is for its own Ukrainian customers only. And in the occupied territories and in the frontline areas there is no Ukrainian network at all — other operators broadcast there.
How much data do you need in Ukraine?
So you can work it out instead of guessing: how much an hour costs in the apps you actually use on holiday.
Just staying reachable
1–3 GB
Messages, the map now and then, checking mail. Everything else runs on the hotel Wi-Fi.
An ordinary holiday
5–10 GB
Navigating, social media, uploading photos, a few videos in the evening.
Out a lot, or a laptop along
20 GB and up
Streaming in the evening, video calls home, keeping a laptop or tablet online through your phone.
Data used per hour
The Netflix and Spotify figures come from the providers themselves (Netflix Help Center, Spotify Support, retrieved 28 Aug 2026). The rest are network-operator estimates (o2, Vodafone, EE) and vary with picture quality and reception.
What does an eSIM for Ukraine cost?
Simbye offers 8 plans for Ukraine from €1,95 to €46,95 — data packs from €1,95, unlimited from €18,95. Prepaid, no contract.
Plans for Ukraine range from 1 GB to 20 GB, plus unlimited options.
Validity runs from 7 to 30 days and starts with your first connection in Ukraine.
| Plan | Validity | Price | Per travel day |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 GB | 7 days | €1,95 | €0,27 |
| 3 GB | 30 days | €3,95 | €0,13 |
| 5 GB | 30 days | €5,95 | €0,19 |
| 10 GB | 30 days | €11,95 | €0,39 |
| 20 GB | 30 days | €17,95 | €0,59 |
| Unlimited | 7 days | €18,95 | — |
| Unlimited | 15 days | €32,95 | — |
| Unlimited | 30 days | €46,95 | — |
- Networks
- KyivStar + Vodafone Ukraine
- Setting it up
- A link in your email, or the QR code — one tap is enough
- Network technology
- 4G/LTE — and 5G where the network already offers it
- APN and settings
- Nothing to set. The eSIM brings everything with it
- Hotspot
- Allowed — for a laptop, tablet or a travel companion
- Adding more data
- Top up any time, without setting anything up again
- Calls and texts
- Not included — WhatsApp calls run over the data
- Your own number
- Stays in the phone and stays reachable
- Contract
- None. The plan ends by itself
- Worth knowing
- Roaming on your home contract gets billed here — this eSIM is prepaid, so nothing is added afterwards
Frequently Asked Questions about Ukraine eSIM
Data, calls, real phone numbers, top-ups and setup — everything you need to know before you buy a Simbye eSIM.
