Transport in Ukraine

Template:Short description Transport in Ukraine includes ground transportation (road and rail), water (sea and river), air transportation, and pipelines. The transportation sector accounts for roughly 11% of the country's gross domestic product and 7% of total employment.

HRCS2 unit

HRCS2 multiple unit. Rail transport is heavily utilised in Ukraine.

In total, Ukrainian paved roads stretch for Template:Convert. Major routes, marked with the letter 'M' for 'International' (Ukrainian: Міжнародний), extend nationwide and connect all major cities of Ukraine, and provide cross-border routes to the country's neighbours.

International maritime travel is mainly provided through the Port of Odesa, from where ferries sail regularly to Istanbul, Varna and Haifa. The largest ferry company presently operating these routes is Ukrferry.

File:M29 motorway (Ukraine), Valky interchange.jpg

The Kharkiv–Dnipro motorway (M18)

Rail transport in Ukraine connects all major urban areas, port facilities and industrial centres with neighbouring countries. The heaviest concentration of railway track is the Donbas region of Ukraine. Although rail freight transport fell in the 1990s, Ukraine is still one of the world's highest rail users.

The total amount of railroad track in Ukraine extends for Template:Convert, of which Template:Convert was electrified in the 2000s. The state has a monopoly on the provision of passenger rail transport, and all trains, other than those with cooperation of other foreign companies on international routes, are operated by its company Ukrzaliznytsia.

Kyiv Boryspil is Ukraine's largest international airport. It has three main passenger terminals and is the base for the country's flag carrier, Ukraine International Airlines. Other large airports in the country include those in Kharkiv, Lviv and Donetsk (now destroyed). In addition to its flag carrier, Ukraine has a number of airlines including Windrose Airlines, Dniproavia, Azur Air Ukraine, and AtlasGlobal Ukraine. Antonov Airlines, a subsidiary of the Antonov Aerospace Design Bureau, was the only operator of the world's largest fixed wing aircraft, the An-225.

Economy

Transport infrastructure

The transport sector in Ukraine has traditionally addressed only the basic needs of the economy and population. However, it remains underdeveloped in terms of safety, efficiency, and environmental sustainability. Its energy consumption is significantly higher than the EU average, and much of its infrastructure dates back to the Soviet era.

Despite its advantageous geographical location and historically important transit position between Europe and Asia, Ukraine’s logistics sector has long suffered from chronic underinvestment and poor connectivity. This has led to high domestic transport costs and reduced export competitiveness.

Since the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Ukraine’s transport infrastructure has experienced widespread damage. According to a joint assessment by the World Bank, European Commission, and United Nations, total losses in the transport sector alone exceeded US$95.5 billion by mid‑2023, with about 60% of roads and significant parts of the railway network affected.

In response, Ukraine has adopted the national strategy Drive Ukraine 2030, which aims to modernize infrastructure, decarbonize freight transport, and integrate Ukraine into the Trans-European Transport Network (TEN‑T). The strategy outlines reforms in procurement, digitalization, and multimodal logistics.

Major donors including the World Bank, IFC, European Investment Bank, and G7 partners have committed funding to support Ukraine’s recovery. In December 2024, the World Bank approved a US$2.05 billion package for economic stabilization, transport sector reform, and reconstruction of critical infrastructure, including roads and Ukrainian Railways.

The total reconstruction cost is estimated at over US$524 billion over 10 years, with about 15% allocated to transport, including ports, bridges, rail, and urban transit.

Despite reform efforts, Ukraine’s transport infrastructure remains inefficient. Transport and heating account for a significant share of the country’s energy consumption. Decarbonization and modernization of logistics chains remain among the core challenges for the coming decade.

International transport corridors

The advantageous geographical position of Ukraine allows for the location of a number of International Transport Corridors on its territory, in particular :

• Pan-European transport corridors № 3, 5, 7, 9;
• Rail Co-Operation Corridors (ORC) № 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 10 and
• European Transport Corridors – Caucasus – Asia (TRACECA) and Europe – Asia.

Transport industry

The share of the transport sector in Ukraine's gross domestic product (according to statista) as of 2021 was 5.42%. The number of workers employed in the sector is 8% of total employment. The transportation infrastructure of Ukraine is adequately developed overall, however it is obsolete and in need of major modernization. A remarkable boost in the recent development of the country's transportation infrastructure was noticed after winning the right to host a major continental sport event the UEFA Euro 2012.

In 2009, Ukrainian infrastructure provided for the transportation of 1.5 billion tons of cargo and 7.3 billion passengers. Due to the 2008 financial crisis, the volume of freight traffic decreased by 17.6% in 2009 when compared with figures from 2008; passenger transport fell by 12.7%.

Freight and Passenger Transportation Statistics

	Transported tons of freights	Freight kilometres (thousand)	Transported passengers (thousand)	Passenger kilometres (thousand)
2000	938,916.1	19,281,619.3	2,603,804.6	29,381,541.2
2002	947,263.8	20,593,133.1	3,069,136.3	35,812,231.1
2004	1,027,396.3	28,847,143.4	3,720,326.4	47,490,401.3
2006	1,167,199.6	40,566,469.9	3,987,982.2	53,981,705.3
2008	1,266,598.1	54,877,223.3	4,369,125.5	61,302,884.5

Rail

File:UZ ChS7 Bakhchysarai - Inkerman.jpg

A sleeping train in Ukraine's Crimea region.

The public railways in Ukraine are managed by the state railway company Ukrzaliznytsia.

Network length (2010)

The length of the railway network Ukraine ranks third in Europe (21.700 kilometres of track).

• Template:Convert broad gauge of Template:RailGauge, ~Template:Convert electrified (3 kV DC and 25 kV AC)
• Template:Convert of Template:RailGauge standard gauge, electrified

Rail links with adjacent countries

• Belarus
• Russia
• Moldova
• Romania (break-of-gauge: Template:RailGauge / Template:RailGauge)

• File:Metro Kharkiv (Sportyvna).jpg

  Sportyvna station on the Holodnohirsko-Zavodska metro line in Kharkiv

  Hungary (break-of-gauge: Template:RailGauge / Template:RailGauge)
• Slovakia (break-of-gauge: Template:RailGauge / Template:RailGauge)
• Poland (break-of-gauge: Template:RailGauge / Template:RailGauge plus a standard gauge cross-border cargo line)

Metro

In Ukraine, there are 4 metro systems: the Kyiv Metro, the Kharkiv Metro, the Dnipro Metro and the Kryvyi Rih Metro.

Roads

File:Ukraine Major Roads.png

Road network in Ukraine

File:Автодорога Київ — Одеса, с. Віта-Поштова 003.jpg

Section of the E95 / M05 highway near Kyiv.

The development of public roads in Ukraine is currently lagging behind the pace of motorisation in the country. During 1990-2010 the length of the highways network hardly increased at all. The density of highways in Ukraine is 6.6 times lower than in France (respectively 0.28 and 1.84 kilometres of roads per square kilometre area of the country). The length of express roads in Ukraine is 0.28 thousand km (in Germany – 12.5 thousand kilometres in France – 7.1 thousand kilometres), and the level of funding for each kilometre of road in Ukraine is around 5.5 – 6 times less than in those locations.

This is due to a number of objective reasons, including that the burden of maintaining the transport network per capita is significantly higher than in European countries because of Ukraine's relatively low population density (76 people per square kilometre), low purchasing power of citizens (1/5 of the Eurozone's purchasing capacity), relatively low car ownership and the nation's large territory.

The operational condition of roads is very poor; around 51.1% of roads do not meet minimum standards, and 39.2% require major rebuilds. The average speed on roads in Ukraine 2–3 times lower than in Western countries. As of 2016, many of Ukraine's major provincial highways are in very poor condition, with an Ukravtodor official stating that 97% of roads are in need of repair. The road repair budget was set at about ₴20 billion, but corruption causes the budget to be poorly spent and overweight trucks are common place rapidly causing more road damage.

• Total: 169,477 km
• Paved: Template:Convert (including Template:Convert of expressways); note – these roads, classified as "hard-surfaced", include both hard-paved highways and some all-weather gravel-surfaced roads.
• Unpaved: Template:Convert (2004)

Principal roads

File:5.1 Russian road sign.svg

Motorways in Ukraine, Template:Convert (2010):

Kyiv – Boryspil | Kharkiv – Dnipro

File:5.3 Russian road sign.svg

State Highways, Template:Convert (2009):

M01 | M02 | M03 | M04 | M05 | M06 | M07 | M08 | M09 | M10 | M11 | M12 | M13 | M14 | M15 | M16 | M17 | M18 | M19 | M20 | M21 | M22 | M23

Note: State highways are important national routes and are not necessarily high-speed roads

Bus

Overview

Bus transport forms a vital part of Ukraine's passenger transit, encompassing:

• Urban and suburban buses operated by municipal entities like Kyivpastrans and private companies.
• Intercity coach services linking regional centers.
• International bus routes to Europe (e.g., Poland, Czech Republic, Germany).

In 2023, bus passenger turnover totalled 49 billion passenger-kilometres—around 38% of domestic passenger transport—ahead of trolleybuses (6%) and trams (3%).

Kyiv

Kyivpastrans, the city’s municipal operator established in 2001, runs a fleet of approximately 650 buses across 107 urban routes.

The main coach hub is the Kyiv Central Bus Station, rebuilt in 2021. It includes 16 platforms and hosts major carriers such as Autolux, Gunsel, and Ecolines.

Lviv

The bus network in Lviv includes around 69 routes (49 in service as of 2021), operated by four private firms and one municipal company, with approximately 390 vehicles. In 2024, buses carried nearly 89.9 million passengers, comprising ~70% of total public transport use in the city.

Autolux

Autolux is a major private bus operator in Ukraine:

Detail	Information
Founded	1997 by AAZ Trading Co., based in Kyiv
Fleet	Over 50 intercity passenger coaches (Neoplan, MAN, Setra, Temsa)
Network	Domestic routes: Kyiv–Lviv, Kyiv–Odesa, Kyiv–Kharkiv, Kyiv–Poltava, Kyiv–Dnipro, Kyiv–Zaporizhzhia. International routes to Poland, Czech Republic, Germany, and Baltic states
Frequency	~40 domestic and international departures per day
On-board services	Reclining seats, air conditioning, Wi-Fi, USB/power outlets, toilet (on international coaches)
Baggage policy	1–2 pieces of luggage up to 30 kg and 1 carry-on up to 5 kg

Other operators

Other intercity and international bus companies include:

• Ecolines
• Gunsel
• Ukrbus

Aviation

File:UR-PSA.jpg

A Boeing 737 of UIA, one of Ukraine's flag carriers, taxiing at Barcelona (El Prat) Airport

Outlook

Since the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Ukraine has closed its airspace to all civilian flights; it remains suspended as of May 2025. Ukraine currently operates about 20 civilian airports, of which 15 have sustained wartime damage. Negotiations are underway to partially reopen several airports—potentially including Lviv—in 2025, pending risk assessments and safety clearances. Boryspil Airport authorities report that a new joint military-civil security framework is already 60–70 % complete, aiming to enable a phased reopening.

While the aviation sector has largely been dormant, commercial airlines such as Wizz Air and Ryanair have announced plans to resume flights within **6 weeks of a ceasefire**, aiming to re-establish routes and bases in Kyiv and Lviv.

Airlines

• Ukraine International Airlines (UIA) – founded 1992, pre-war fleet ~40 aircraft; operations suspended in 2022 and bankruptcy proceedings opened in Nov 2023.
• SkyUp Airlines – low-cost/charter operator founded 2018, fleet ~11 Boeing 737s; shifted primarily to ACMI leasing and continues operating via EU subsidiary.
• Constanta Airline – Zaporizhzhia-based charter carrier with An-26/An-74 and Boeing 737-300, holds EU/US certificates; serves humanitarian and commercial missions.
• Bees Airline – launched 2021 with Airbus A320s; Ukrainian AOC revoked in 2022, now flying under Romanian AOC.

Airports

• Civilian airports in operation (May 2025): ~20, many non‑operational due to damage.
• Pre-war total airports and airfields: ~148 (paved + unpaved) per CIA World Factbook.
• Major international hubs include Boryspil (Ukraine's largest, pre-war handling ~65% of traffic), Lviv, Odesa, Kharkiv, Dnipro, among others.
• Odesa International Airport opened its new arrival terminal in April 2017.
• Zaporizhzhia International Airport’s new terminal (opened Oct 2020) was destroyed by Russian missile in May 2024.

Future developments

• Lviv International Airport may reopen in spring–summer 2025; airlines including Wizz Air, SkyUp, Lufthansa, LOT, Turkish Airlines, airBaltic, and Austrian Airlines have signaled readiness.
• Uzhhorod International, on the Slovak border, is being upgraded (≈ €700 000) to support early commercial operations.
• Reopening of Boryspil and other major airports depends on military-air‑defence coordination, security clearances, and insurers’ risk coverage.

Water transport

File:Kiev River Port 2007.JPG

Passenger terminal of the Kyiv River Port.

File:Moskva Karpati.jpg

Leisure riverboat in Kyiv.

River transport

Template:Convert navigable waterways on 7 rivers, most of them are on Danube, Dnieper and Pripyat rivers. All Ukraine's rivers freeze over in winter (usually December through March), limiting navigation. However, river icebreakers are available on the Dnieper, at least in vicinity of Kyiv.

Danube

The most important waterway of Ukraine.

• Izmail
• Reni Commercial Seaport
• Ust-Danube Commercial Seaport

Dnipro

Dnipro within Ukraine is a regulated system of reservoirs separated by dams with shiplocks. The river is navigable through all its Ukrainian length.

• Cherkasy
• Dnipro
• Kakhovka
• Kremenchuk
• Kyiv River Terminal
• Nikopol
• Zaporizhzhia

Pripyat

Notable riverport Chernobyl is now abandoned due to the Chernobyl disaster, but the waterway retains its importance as part of the Dnieper–Baltic Sea route.

Southern Bug

Plans are announced to revitalize commercial freight navigation on the Southern Bug as part of the increasing grain export from Ukraine.

Sea transport

Merchant marine

• Total: 134 ships (Template:GT or over) totaling Template:GT/Template:DWT
• Ships by type: bulk carrier 3, cargo ship 98, chemical tanker 1, passenger ship 6, passenger/cargo ship 5, petroleum tanker 8, refrigerated cargo ship 11, specialized tanker 2 (2010)

Sea ports and harbours

File:Oděsa, přístav.jpg

Port of Odesa on the Black Sea is the largest seaport in Ukraine.

As of July 2013, Ukraine had 18 "marine trade ports" available for foreign ships' entry. Some of these "marine trade ports" are actually port conglomerates comprising several non-adjacent ports and tenant private terminals. Major river ports are also considered "marine" international ports.

• Berdiansk (Sea of Azov)
  • Agro-CLASS (oil terminal)
• Bilhorod-Dnistrovsky Seaport (Black Sea)
  • Port Buhaz (auxiliary)
• Theodosia (Black Sea)
• Chornomorsk (Black Sea) (Ukrferry: Odesa — Istanbul / Derince / Haifa / Varna)
  • Aldi (specialized complex)
  • Chornomorsk Fuel Terminal
  • Chem-Oil-Transit-Ukraine
  • Trans Bulk Terminal (grain complex)
  • Ship Maintenance Factory
  • Fishing port
• Izmail (Danube river / Black Sea)
  • Triton Services Agency Ukraine (oil pier)
  • Portoflot (specialized terminal)
• Kerch (Black Sea)
  • Zaliv Shipbuilding yard
  • Port Krym (ferry: Kerch — Port Kavkaz (Russia))
  • Fishing port
  • Oil terminal of fishing port
  • TES-Terminal
  • Port Kamysh-Burun (Azov Sea)
• Kherson (Dnipro river / Black Sea)
  • Kherson Shipyard
  • All-Ukrainian Industrial Union
  • Palada
• Mariupol (Sea of Azov)
  • Metallurgy Complex Azovstal
  • Ship Maintenance Factory
  • Freight terminal of ship maintenance factory
• Mykolaiv (Southern Bug river / Black Sea)
  • Freight terminal of Nika-Terra
  • Freight terminal of Okean
  • Freight terminal of Black Sea Shipyard
  • Freight terminal of Mykolaiv Alumina Factory
  • Freight terminal of Nibulon
  • Freight terminal of Greentour-ex
  • Port of Mykolaiv Grain Elevator (grain terminal)
  • Port Ochakiv
  • Dnipro-Buh Sea Terminal
• Olvia (in Mykolaiv, Southern Bug river / Black Sea), a "specialized" weapons-transiting port
• Port of Odesa (Black Sea)
• Reni (Danube river / Black Sea)
• Port of Sevastopol (Black Sea)
  • Port Balaklava (auxiliary)
• Skadovsk (Black Sea)
  • Port Khorly (auxiliary)
  • Port Henichesk (auxiliary)
• Ust-Dunaisk (Vylkove) (Danube river / Black Sea)
  • Port of Kiliya
• Yalta (Black Sea)
• Pivdenne (Black Sea)
  • Trans invest service
  • Trans invest service (containers)
  • Sea Side (Ukraine)
  • UkrTransNafta (oil terminal)
  • Borivage (grain terminal)
  • Transbunker-Yuzhny
• Yevpatoria (Black Sea)

Other notable seaports

• Donuzlav (Black Sea)
• Chornomorske (Black Sea) – Ukraine's offshore drilling base port

Important supporting agencies

• Delta Lotsman, the maritime pilot company serving the territorial waters of Ukraine
• "Derzhhidrohrafiya" (State Hydro Geography), a scientific-production complex of hydro-geographical state companies and science-research center "Ukrmorkartohrafiya" (all lighthouses located in Ukraine belong to the institution) The Black Sea Fleet of the Russian Federation refuses to surrender former Soviet navigational facilities since 1997
• Maritime Security Agency in correspondence of the SOLAS International Convention (including its amendment the ISPS Code)
• Shipping registry of Ukraine
• Port registry of Ukraine

Shipping companies

• UkrFerry
• Ukrrichflot
• Ukrainian Danube Shipping, freight and passenger transportation company (primarily Danube river delta)
• Black Sea Shipping Company, freight and passenger transportation company

Ship building and maintenance companies

• Ship building and maintenance companies of Ukraine

Pipelines

File:Ammiakoprovod NS.jpg

The world's longest ammonia pipeline, running from the TogliattiAzot plant in Russia to Odesa in Ukraine.

Natural gas

Ukraine’s natural gas transmission system—one of the world’s largest—comprised approximately 38,550 km of pipelines as of 2024, including 22,160 km of mainlines and 16,390 km of branch lines. It includes 72 compressor stations (702 compressor units, total power 5,442.9 MW) and 13 underground gas storage facilities with a combined active capacity of about 30.9 billion m³. As of 2009, the system could import up to 288 billion m³ of gas annually and export up to 178.5 billion m³—including around 142.2 billion m³ to Europe. In 2024, Russia shipped approximately 14 billion m³ of gas through Ukraine—down sharply from peak years—as contracts expired and pipelines were damaged during the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Crude oil

Ukraine’s crude oil pipeline network includes both domestic and international routes. It consisted of 4,514 km of pipelines as of 2010. Notably, the southern branch of the Druzhba pipeline system passes through Ukraine, carrying Russian oil and Kazakh oil toward Central Europe. The 674 km-long Odesa–Brody pipeline links Odesa to Brody, near the Polish border, and has been used for both northbound and southbound flows since 2002. In 2024, about 230,000 barrels per day (≈11.5 million tonnes/year) of Russian crude flowed through Ukraine—mainly to Hungary, Slovakia, and the Czech Republic—via the Druzhba system.

Petroleum products

Ukraine had about 4,211 km of petroleum products pipelines as of 2010. These pipelines carry Gasoline, diesel, heating oil, and other refined products across the country, linking refineries, storage depots, and key border points—primarily in the eastern and central regions.

Ammonia

The Soviet-era Togliatti–Odesa ammonia pipeline, operated in Ukraine by Ukrhimtransamiak, was the longest of its kind in the world, with a total length of approximately 2,200 to 2,470 km. It had an annual capacity of 2.5 million tonnes of Ammonia transported to the Port of Odesa for global export. Operations were halted in 2022 after damage caused by the Russian invasion of Ukraine, including a confirmed rupture in Kharkiv Oblast in June 2023.

Summary table

Product	Length (km)	Notes
Natural gas	38,550	Includes 22,160 km trunk, 16,390 km branches; 13 underground storages; max transit ~288 billion m³/year
Crude oil	4,514	Includes Druzhba pipeline and Odesa–Brody pipeline (674 km)
Petroleum product	4,211	National refined fuels distribution
Ammonia	~2,200–2,470	Togliatti–Odesa ammonia pipeline, inactive since 2022

See also

• List of the busiest airports in Ukraine
• Transport in Kyiv
• Rail transport in Ukraine
• Road transport in Ukraine
• Russia–Ukraine gas disputes
• Druzhba pipeline
• Odesa–Brody pipeline
• Natural gas transmission system of Ukraine

External links

Unofficial databases

• Shipowners database, arranged by country (Template:In lang)
• All lighthouses of Ukraine
• Informational-reference website "Ukraine"