Before you start

An unlocked phone — all three operators support eSIM, which makes the dual-number setup easy
For registration: a passport or your residence permit; Ukrainian passport holders can also register via Diia or BankID
Cash or a card; SIMs are sold everywhere including supermarkets

Step-by-step

1
Buy a SIM on arrival
Operator shops are dense around Prospekt Svobody, the railway station and the malls, and supermarkets sell starter packs. Buy a tariff sold on data rather than minutes — data here is among the cheapest in Europe and almost all communication runs over messengers.
In personWho: YouTen minutesStarter packs are inexpensive; generous monthly bundles are typically a few hundred hryvnia
2
Register the number to your document
At an operator shop with a passport or residence permit, or online where supported — Vodafone offers online registration with Mobile ID or an electronic signature, lifecell calls it personification, and Kyivstar registers in shop with a Ukrainian or international passport. Not a legal obligation; it is what makes the number recoverable and portable.
In personWho: YouFifteen minutesFree
3
Set up the dual-number arrangement if you cross the border
The Lviv pattern: a Ukrainian eSIM for daily life and a Polish physical SIM (or the reverse) for EU roaming, banking SMS and Przemyśl-side logistics. It removes roaming charges in both directions and means one number keeps working when the other network is degraded.
Mobile appWho: YouAn evening
4
Install the apps the city runs on
Повітряна тривога for alerts, the LeoCard app for transport, Diia for government services, your bank's app, and Bolt or Uklon for taxis. The Lviv city site publishes the shelter map — bookmark it rather than trusting memory.
Mobile appWho: YouAn evening
5
Plan for the power, not the coverage
During scheduled outages base stations run on backup power and coverage thins as the hours pass. Carry a large power bank, keep the second SIM on a different operator, and put the home router on a UPS — a ₴2,000 UPS is the best connectivity purchase you will make in Ukraine.
In personWho: YouOne shopping tripA power bank and a small UPS, a few thousand hryvnia together

Documents you’ll need

Passport or residence permit, for registration
An unlocked handset, ideally eSIM-capable for the dual-number setup
Nothing at all, if you only want a working prepaid SIM today

Things most newcomers don’t know

Ukraine does not require a passport to buy and use a prepaid SIM.

Unusual for the region, and it catches people in both directions — arrivals brace for bureaucracy and get none, then find months later that an unregistered number cannot be recovered after a theft.

Source: Kyivstar / Vodafone / lifecell registration pages

The two-SIM, two-country setup is the Lviv norm, not an edge case.

With the EU 70 km away and a large share of the city's work and family life crossing the border, one Ukrainian and one Polish number solves roaming, banking SMS and network-degradation resilience in a single move.

Source: community-reported

Kyivstar allows a maximum of ten numbers registered per document.

Relevant if you are setting up a team, a household or devices; the cap is on the document.

Source: Kyivstar

Connectivity here is a power problem, not a network problem.

The masts are modern and data is cheap. What takes you offline is an outage draining base-station batteries and killing your building's router. A UPS and a big power bank solve most of it.

Source: community-reported

Common mistakes to avoid

Not registering the number, then losing the phone. There is no route back to a number never linked to a document.
Buying a tariff sold on call minutes. Buy data.
Assuming home internet survives a blackout. It survives exactly as long as the router's power source does.
Relying on a single operator for work-critical connectivity during outage season.

Some of this may be out of date. Spotted something inaccurate? Help us keep it right for the next newcomer.