Gentlemen, I finally pulled the trigger and visited Ukraine for the first time in April. It was certainly a good experience as I got to see what being in another country was like (yes, this was the first time I had ever traveled outside the United States). I came with a Romance Tour sponsored by A Foreign Affair (loveme.com) ; we started in Kiev, then went to Kharkov and Sumy. The AFA socials were enjoyable - between 200 and 300 women in each city attended these events and since there were 25 guys in our group the odds were in our favor. I got a few contacts and have been in communication with them, so we will see what develops. I felt comfortable there as a person of color and was largely treated with respect. Sumy is a smaller city than both Kiev and Kharkov, but to me it has the most sincere group of ladies of the 3. I tend to agree with other posters here - you'll have a better chance of success with Ukrainian ladies if you stick to smaller cities like Sumy and Poltava.