Ukraine
Echoes of the Cold War Tour

Arrive in Lviv and transfer to hotel accommodation. Depending upon flight arrival schedules there may be time to explore the city independently. Tonight there’s a welcome dinner. Overnight Reikartz Medievale Hotel or similar. (D)

Today our Cold War tour starts in Lviv’s mediaeval Old City. A UNESCO World Heritage Site. Occupied by the Nazis in WWII Lviv was important control centre for Soviet expansion into the west. We investigate both pre and post war periods, and learn why it was important for the Soviets and the KGB to defeat the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) who fought against the occupation for many years. We visit the museum inside the former KGB prison on Lonckyi Street, and the Territory of Terror Memorial Museum of Totalitarian Regimes where we are reminded of atrocities committed in the totalitarian world. Later we walk to the abandoned Radio Centre Bunker hidden in the hills. Overnight Reikartz Medievale Hotel or similar. (B)

(approx. travelling times: train – 3hr40m, car – 215km, total travelling time approx. 10 hours)*

There’s a very early start today, driving to the railway station to board the morning train to Korosten. Upon arrival we descend into the town’s old military command bunker, constructed within granite bedrock for Josef Stalin, later serving as a Cold War shelter for local Soviet leaders. Afterwards we drive to Zytomyr to visit the Sergei Korolev Museum of Astronautics, named after genius rocket engineer and spacecraft designer Serhii Korolev, who was born in Zhytomyr and worked as a leading designer of Soviet rockets and missiles during the USA/USSR Space Race. Later we visit the ‘Wehrwolf Bunker’ from where Adolf Hitler and his generals oversaw the eastern front during WWII. Overnight Hotel France or similar. (B)

(total travelling approx. 420km, 7hrs)*

This morning we drive to the Museum of Strategic Missile Forces, located near Pervomaisk, on the territory of the former missile base. This is the only such museum in the world, displaying the nuclear weapons potential of the so-called ‘Evil Empire’. Here we’ll see the main types of strategic missile still in service with the Russian military. We descend to the underground command centre, which remains exactly like a Russian combat control centre on active duty. Afterwards we travel to the small town Kropivnitsky. Overnight Reikartz Kropivnitskiy or similar. (B)

Please note: There is an option (at extra cost) to visit the Military Aviation Museum this morning. Please advise if you would like to take advantage of this.

*The road from Pervomaisk to Kropivnitsky is often in very poor condition and therefore the journey may take longer than expected.

(total travelling – 260km, approx. 5 hours)

After breakfast we drive to Dnipro and visit the Interpipe NTRP History Museum or Petrovkyi Plant Museum (subject to change). The museum has over 57,400 artefacts pertaining to Ukrainian industrial history.  Afterwards we visit Aerospace Centre and discover the history of rocket construction in Ukraine. Later there’s a two-hour walking tour around the city centre. Alternatively, there’s a chance to explore the new Museum of Anti-Terrorist Operation where we investigate the ongoing conflict with Russia in the Donbass region. Overnight at Reikartz Dnipro or similar. (B)

(total travelling – 600km, approx. 9 hours)

Today is dedicated to the third part of the nuclear triad, bomber aircraft capable of delivering atomic weapons. We visit the unique Poltava Museum of Long-Range and Strategic Aviation and examine examples of bombers, still on active service in the Russian air force, whose long-range flights across the Atlantic continue to keep the western world on its toes. Overnight Hotel Rus or similar. (B)

Today’s city tour of the Ukrainian capital explores the history of Kiev from the moment of its foundation in the Middle Ages through the Soviet period to recent revolutionary times. All these periods are deeply connected. In the post war period architecture in Kiev was much influenced by communist ideology. However, combined with Ukrainian baroque and modern European styles the contrast creates a surprising result, part green and leafy country town and part brutalist republican capital. We travel from the Old Town of Kiev to Maidan Square and on to the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Kiev Pechersk Lavra monastery complex, ending at the remarkable WWII National Museum complex. Overnight Rus Hotel or similar. (B)

(total travelling – 320km, approx. 8 hours)

Early in the morning we leave Kiev and drive to the largest abandoned area in Europe, the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone. Life here stopped in 1986 after the world’s worst nuclear accident at Chernobyl’s Vladimir Ilyich Lenin Power Plant. Gazing across the Zone’s landscape it’s almost as though the Cold War became hot. During the tour we see the remains of the plant and visit the ghost city of Prypyat. Here there are also many facilities built for Cold War purposes, including the over-the-horizon radar system, known as the Russian Woodpecker or Duga, part of a super-secret Soviet anti-ballistic missile early-warning network. Back in Kiev there’s a farewell dinner at a Ukrainian restaurant, a chance to share impressions and say goodbye to new friends. Overnight Rus Hotel or similar. (BD)

After breakfast you will be transferred to the airport for your departure flight from Kiev (B)