Hi Nigel,
We did the western part of the Ukraine in 2011 as part of a 5 mth trip, entering from Romania from Siret and made our way first to Chernivtsi, then cross country to Ternopil, and spent time in Lviv. Crossed into Poland, and did all of eastern Poland from there to Krakow and then onto Auschwitz before entering the Czech Republic.
You are asking a big question re: "heads up on stuff", so perhaps you can clarify what you are interested in seeing, destinations, roads, culture, sporting events, food, then responders like myself can provide some good detail.
For starters if you visit our blog at
Two Wheels move the Soul
look down the right hand side of the front page, click on 2011, then August, you will see all our entries which includes the ares you mentioned in your post.
I'd be happy to help.
If the Ukraine isn't a destination itself, (a specific location) then be aware you'll be driving on some of the worst roads, and terrible border crossings (read blog). We had some advantages that you won't have in making things work.
Romania in our opinion is a much more interesting destination country.