eSIM Ukraine
Ukraine eSIM from 1,95€ on the KyivStar and 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.
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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?
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 and 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.
| Networks | Download | Upload | Latency |
|---|---|---|---|
 | 41Mbit/s | 14Mbit/s | 41ms |
 | 33Mbit/s | 14Mbit/s | 45ms |
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 or Vodafone Ukraine (formerly MTS Ukraine). 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 two 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.
| Feature |  Simbye eSIM |
Local SIM card |
|---|---|---|
| ID and registration | No registration, you buy online and you are done | Ukrainian SIM cards are these days registered to your passport at purchase, your ID is scanned in the shop |
| When you are online | On your first connection across the border | Only once you have found an open shop, so after a night train arrival that means the next morning at the earliest |
| Where you get it | By email with a link and QR code, still at home | There are no airport kiosks because there are no flights — so shops at stations and in the cities |
| Data and validity | 1 to 20 GB or unlimited, 7 to 30 days, chosen before you leave | Whatever the shop has in stock, paid in hryvnia and in smaller shops often cash only |
| Number, calls, SMS | Not included, data only | Ukrainian number included, so calls and SMS too |
| Price per GB | Higher than a local plan | Cheaper, but it costs you time and a trip to the shop |
| Your number from home | Stays active, calls and SMS still reach you — at your home plan's rates | If your phone has only one SIM slot you have to take your card out |
| Topping up and extending | Any time in your account, also from abroad | Top up by machine, kiosk or the operator app, mostly in Ukrainian |
For most travelers the eSIM is the simpler choice: set up before departure, no queuing on arrival.
How much data do you need in Ukraine?
Trip length
How you use your phone
What does an eSIM for Ukraine cost?
from 1,95€
8 plans · 7–30 days · unlimited from 18,95€
Simbye offers 8 plans for Ukraine from 1,95€ to 47,95€ — 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.
Data plans
Unlimited
- 1 GB 7 days 1,95€ 0,27€ per travel day
- 3 GB 30 days 3,95€ 0,13€ per travel day
- 5 GB 30 days 5,95€ 0,19€ per travel day
- 10 GB 30 days 7,95€ 0,26€ per travel day
- 20 GB 30 days 18,95€ 0,63€ per travel day
- Unlimited 7 days 18,95€ 2,70€ per travel day
- Unlimited 15 days 23,95€ 1,59€ per travel day
- Unlimited 30 days 47,95€ 1,59€ per travel day
Good to know
- 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.
You buy an eSIM for Ukraine online, the link and QR code arrive by email, setting it up takes a few minutes. No shop visit, no contract, no registration with your ID. You pay once with your own card and can have the eSIM on your phone days before you leave.
It's not only a KyivStar eSIM: it also uses Vodafone Ukraine, depending on which network is strongest where you are. You can still choose by hand — switch from automatic to manual network selection in your mobile settings and pick KyivStar from the list.
A Ukraine eSIM gives you 1 to 20 gigabytes, or unlimited, with 7 to 30 days of validity. If you run out, you top up at any time, including mid-trip — you do not need a second eSIM for that.
No, you can't make calls or receive SMS. This is a data-only plan without a phone number, so no calls or SMS over the network. Calls through WhatsApp, Telegram, Signal or FaceTime work normally because they run over data. And your number from home stays active if you leave it switched on in your phone — calls and verification texts still arrive there, at your home plan's rates.
No, you don't get a Ukrainian number. If you need one, for instance because a local service insists on it, that only works with a SIM card from a shop on the ground — and those are these days registered to your passport.
Not for this eSIM: no need to register with your passport. The purchase is online and your ID is not scanned anywhere. Only Ukrainian SIM cards bought in a shop require registration.
Usually, yes, the network can work during power cuts, but not indefinitely. Operators must keep their base stations running on battery for at least ten hours during outages. During long, wide-area blackouts it can still get tight, because batteries do not always fully recharge between cuts and everyone switches to mobile internet at once. Expect a slower network rather than none at all.
No, not Crimea or the occupied territories. There is no Ukrainian network in the occupied territories or in the frontline areas in the east and south. Other operators broadcast there, this eSIM does not connect to them.
An eSIM for Ukraine is a data profile on local partner networks. Your phone connects through local partner networks the same way a Ukrainian SIM card would, covering Kyiv, Lviv and the larger cities. You need an unlocked phone that supports eSIM, you install the profile before you cross the border rather than looking for a shop.
An eSIM for Ukraine starts at 1,95€, the final price depends on the data volume and number of days you pick. A few days in Kyiv needs far less than a month-long stay, so the smaller bundles cost less. You pay once, prepaid, with no contract.
Ready for Ukraine?
Pick a plan, tap the link in your email — you are online from the moment you land.
Choose a planPrepaid, no contract. The plan simply ends on its own.
