A curfew has been in force across the whole of Ukraine since 24 February 2022 and in most oblasts runs from 00:00 to 05:00. Kyiv shortened it to 01:00–05:00 from 10 September 2026, Kherson extends it to 21:00–05:00, and in Zakarpattia (Uzhhorod) there is no curfew at all. During these hours you may not be on the street without a pass; trains run, taxis essentially do not.
What is the curfew and who sets it?
The legal basis is Article 8 of the Ukrainian law "On the Legal Regime of Martial Law". Martial law is extended by parliament every 90 days and has been in force continuously since February 2022. The hours are set not by the government in Kyiv but by the oblast military administration (OVA), which is why they differ between regions and change without notice, usually after shelling intensifies or eases off. A city may have different hours from the border communities in the same oblast.
In practice, during the curfew hours public transport does not run, shops and venues are closed, and police and National Guard patrols drive the streets. Exceptions: the emergency services, critical infrastructure workers and people holding a pass issued by the military administration.
Curfew by city (as of September 2026)
| City / oblast | Hours | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Kyiv | 01:00–05:00 | From 10 September 2026, by decision of the Kyiv Defence Council; previously 00:00–05:00. The metro and public transport run until about 00:30. |
| Lviv and Lviv oblast | 00:00–05:00 | Unchanged since 2022, including on holidays and weekends. |
| Uzhhorod / Zakarpattia | none | The only oblast without a curfew. |
| Chernivtsi | 00:00–04:00 | |
| Ivano-Frankivsk, Lutsk, Rivne, Ternopil, Khmelnytskyi, Vinnytsia, Zhytomyr | 00:00–05:00 | West and centre of the country. |
| Odesa and Odesa oblast | 00:00–05:00 | |
| Dnipro | 00:00–05:00 | Communities along the Dnipro on the Zaporizhzhia side may have a longer one. |
| Kharkiv and Kharkiv oblast | 00:00–05:00 | Shortened from 23:00 on 17 August 2025; longer in front-line communities. |
| Zaporizhzhia | 00:00–05:00 in the city | From 21:00 in communities near the front line. |
| Sumy | 00:00–05:00 | Periodically shortened to 04:00; longer in communities bordering Russia. |
| Mykolaiv | 00:00–05:00 | |
| Poltava, Chernihiv, Cherkasy | 00:00–04:00 | |
| Kropyvnytskyi | 23:00–05:00 | |
| Kherson | 21:00–05:00 | Daily artillery shelling; not a tourist destination. |
| Donetsk oblast (Kramatorsk, Sloviansk) | from 17:00 to 09:00 or longer | Near the front even 15:00–11:00; entry only with a pass. |
The hours in the table come from military administration announcements and press round-ups from September 2026. Before you leave, check the website or Telegram channel of the oblast military administration of the city you are going to, and once there ask at your hotel. A change of an hour one way or the other happens several times a year.
What happens if you go out during the curfew?
There is no separate article on curfew violations in the Code of Administrative Offences, although bills proposing heavy fines keep returning to parliament. A patrol checks your ID, your phone and your bags, and if you have neither a pass nor an urgent reason, takes you to the police station or the nearest checkpoint and releases you at 05:00. Refusing to follow a police officer's instructions falls under Article 185 of the Code of Administrative Offences: a fine of 136–255 hryvnias, community service or detention of up to 15 days. For a foreign national such a night stays on record and may count against you at your next entry. The most common scenarios in which Poles run into a patrol: walking back from a restaurant ten minutes after midnight, walking to the railway station, and looking for a place to sleep after arriving late by car.
Two exceptions are always respected: going to a shelter during an air-raid alert and a medical emergency (ambulances run all night). Pregnant women and people with children are usually simply escorted home by the patrol.
Night trains, stations and taxis
- Ukrzaliznytsia trains run all night, and most services from Przemyśl and Chełm to Kyiv, Odesa or Kharkiv are night trains. Your ticket and passport are your pass to and from the station.
- Stations (Kyiv-Pasazhyrskyi, Lviv, Odesa) are open around the clock. If your train arrives at 02:00, you stay in the station hall until 05:00; there are benches, paid waiting rooms and toilets. You may also wait for a train departing after midnight if you get to the station before the curfew starts.
- Bolt and Uklon do not operate during the curfew. A few taxi firms with passes run only from stations and airport car parks at several times the normal price; do not plan your journey around this.
- Public transport finishes 30–60 minutes before the curfew. In Kyiv the last metro trains leave at around 00:30.
- When choosing a train, look at the arrival time: 05:30 in Kyiv is a normal morning, 01:30 means three hours at the station. More in our guide to travelling to Ukraine by train.
By car: what if I cross the border late?
The Medyka–Shehyni, Korczowa–Krakovets, Hrebenne–Rava-Ruska and Dorohusk–Yahodyn crossings operate around the clock, but immediately beyond them begins Lviv or Volyn oblast with a curfew from 00:00. If clearance drags on until 23:30, you will not make it to Lviv (70 km from Shehyni, with checkpoints along the way). The first checkpoint on the route will stop you and make you wait in the car until 05:00. Sensible options: cross the border before 21:00, stay overnight on the Polish side in Przemyśl or Hrubieszów, or book a hotel in Mostyska or Yavoriv just across the border. Queues and the choice of crossing are covered in our guide to Poland–Ukraine border crossings.
Alcohol and other night-time restrictions
Restrictions on alcohol sales are introduced by the same military administrations. In most oblasts you can buy alcohol only during daytime hours, usually from 10:00 or 11:00 to 22:00 or 23:00, in shops and venues; outside that window the till simply will not accept the product. Bars and restaurants close in time for guests to get back before the curfew, i.e. in Lviv around 23:00 and in Kyiv, from September 2026, around 00:00. After dark it is also forbidden to photograph checkpoints, energy facilities and the aftermath of shelling.
Air-raid alert during the curfew
Install the "Повітряна тривога" app (Air Alert, available in English) and set the oblast you are sleeping in. A siren at night means you are allowed to go to a shelter; the hotel will point you to the nearest one, and in Kyiv the default shelter is the metro, which is opened for the duration of the alert at night too. How to respond to an alert and how the threat differs between regions is covered in our guide Is it safe to travel to Ukraine?.