Kyiv is the capital and largest city of Ukraine, built on the hills of the Dnipro River's right bank. Its skyline of gold-domed churches, the UNESCO-listed St Sophia Cathedral and Kyiv Pechersk Lavra, the cobbled Andriyivskyy Descent and the riverside Podil district make it one of Eastern Europe's most historic capitals. Kyiv is a city at war: air-raid alerts, damage and security restrictions shape every visit, and all travel must be planned around current official advice.
Historical timeline
Key moments that shaped Kiev City.
-
1
Legendary Founding
Chronicle tradition credits the brothers Kyi, Shchek and Khoryv and their sister Lybid with founding a settlement on the Dnipro hills, the origin of the city's name.
-
2
Oleh Takes Kyiv
Prince Oleh of Novgorod seizes Kyiv and makes it the capital of the emerging state of Kyivan Rus.
-
3
Baptism of Rus
Prince Volodymyr the Great adopts Byzantine Christianity and orders the people of Kyiv baptised in the Dnipro.
-
4
St Sophia and the Golden Gate
Yaroslav the Wise begins St Sophia Cathedral and fortifies the city with the Golden Gate at the height of Kyivan Rus.
-
5
Kyiv Pechersk Lavra Founded
Monks Antony and Theodosius establish the cave monastery that becomes the spiritual centre of Eastern Slavic Orthodoxy.
-
6
Mongol Sack of Kyiv
Batu Khan's army storms and devastates the city, ending Kyiv's era as a great medieval capital.
-
7
Kyiv-Mohyla Collegium
Metropolitan Petro Mohyla merges schools into the collegium, later the Kyiv-Mohyla Academy, a leading Orthodox centre of learning.
-
8
Pereiaslav Agreement
Cossack Hetman Bohdan Khmelnytsky's alliance with Muscovy begins the gradual absorption of Kyiv into the Russian Empire.
-
9
Ukrainian People's Republic
The Central Rada declares Ukrainian independence in Kyiv; the state falls under successive occupations by 1920 and Kyiv joins the Soviet Union.
-
10
Capital of Soviet Ukraine
Kharkiv's capital role moves to Kyiv, which grows under Soviet industrialisation and purges.
-
11
Holodomor
A man-made famine under Stalin kills millions of Ukrainians; Ukraine and many states recognise it as genocide.
-
12
Babyn Yar Massacre
German forces and collaborators kill 33,771 Jewish people at the Babyn Yar ravine in two days; further killings continue until 1943.
-
13
Liberation of Kyiv
The Red Army retakes Kyiv after two years of German occupation; much of Khreshchatyk had been destroyed in 1941.
-
14
Chornobyl Disaster
Reactor No. 4 explodes about 100 km north of Kyiv; the city is affected by fallout and evacuation of the zone begins.
-
15
Independence
The Verkhovna Rada in Kyiv declares Ukraine independent; a referendum on 1 December confirms it.
-
16
Orange Revolution
Mass protests on Maidan Nezalezhnosti overturn a rigged presidential election.
-
17
Euromaidan and Revolution of Dignity
Protests on Maidan culminate in 18-20 February 2014 violence in which about 100 protesters, the 'Heavenly Hundred', are killed.
-
18
Full-Scale Invasion and Battle of Kyiv
Russia attacks Ukraine and advances on Kyiv; Ukrainian forces repel the assault and Russian troops withdraw from the Kyiv region by early April 2022. Missile and drone strikes on the city continue.
Historical sites
Places where Kiev City's past comes alive.
Golden Gate
Reconstruction over the surviving ruins of the 11th-century main gate of Yaroslav the Wise's fortified city.
Where: Old Kyiv
Admission: Exterior free; interior approx 50-100 UAH (approx $1.10-2.20), not confirmed for 2026
Tithe Church Foundations (Desyatynna)
Foundations of the first stone church of Rus, built by Volodymyr the Great and destroyed by the Mongols in 1240.
Where: Old Kyiv
Admission: Free to view the foundations
Saint Sophia Cathedral
UNESCO-listed cathedral with the largest surviving collection of 11th-century Byzantine mosaics and frescoes in the world.
Where: Old Kyiv
Admission: Approx 100-200 UAH (approx $2.20-4.40), not confirmed for 2026; check sophia.org.ua
Kyiv Pechersk Lavra
UNESCO-listed cave monastery with churches and burial caves holding monks' remains.
Where: Pechersk
Admission: Territory 80 UAH (approx $1.78); combined ticket with Bell Tower 130 UAH (approx $2.89)
Kyiv-Mohyla Academy
Oldest university in Ukraine and Eastern Europe's first Orthodox higher school, with a Baroque campus.
Where: Podil
Admission: Courtyard free
Bohdan Khmelnytsky Monument
Equestrian statue of the Cossack Hetman, unveiled 1888, between St Sophia and St Michael's.
Where: Old Kyiv
Admission: Free
Babyn Yar
Wooded ravine where more than 33,000 Jewish people were shot on 29-30 September 1941; later also Roma, Ukrainian nationalists, POWs and others.
Where: Syrets / Dorohozhychi
Admission: Free (memorial park)
Holodomor Memorial and Museum
Memorial complex with a Candle of Memory and underground museum documenting the 1932-33 famine.
Where: Pechersk
Admission: Memorial free; museum approx 40-100 UAH (approx $0.90-2.20), not confirmed for 2026
Heroes of the Heavenly Hundred Alley
Street memorial of portraits and flowers to protesters killed in February 2014.
Where: Centre
Admission: Free
National Museum of the History of Ukraine in the Second World War
Soviet-era memorial complex under the Motherland statue, since renovated to focus on Ukraine's role in the war and the present war.
Where: Pechersk
Admission: Approx 100-150 UAH (approx $2.20-3.30), not confirmed for 2026