Ukraine
 

Hi has anybody got any info on crossing the Ukraine into Russia, we have our visa's to enter Russia but will they still let us in through the Ukraine ?

Dave

There is no indication that the current issues in Ukraine will have any impact on travellers crossing into Russia. The border crossing appear to be functioning as normal at the moment.

I'm due to cross into Russia from Ukraine about 18th April, so will post my experience once we've crossed. Due to the situation in the eastern Ukraine cities such as Kharkiv and Donestsk, I'm thinking of adjusting our route slightly to avoid those cities. I'm thinking of heading east from Kiev and crossing the border near to Sumy, thereby missing most of the eastern section of Ukraine.

By the sounds of it, current events are going to test your nav skills.

You are going to be soooo glad you chose to have a Globalnaya navigatsionnaya sputnikovaya sistema & GPS enabled sat nav !! :biggrin:


"As of March 23, the Glonass system comprised 28 satellites in orbit, including 24 operational spacecraft, three spares, and one platform in a flight testing phase, according to Roscosmos, the Russian Federal Space Agency."

True - and the paper maps will be very handy for looking at the bigger picture and determining routes that will avoid any hot-spots.

Satnav etc
 

Hi Bermuda Rover and Bertrand,
Thanks for your thoughts we plan to enter Russia about the same time as you in April so it is very similar to your timing Bermuda Rover.
Bertrand can you enlighten me on the Satellite navigation system you are talking about, I ask as the people that supplied the programs for our Garmin said that Satnav programs for our Garmin for Russia was only available in Russian, They have supplied programs for every country we are visiting from UK to Thailand which is our planned destination. To be honest with you my knowledge about satellite navigation stops just after I turn it on, so any help would be very much appreciated.

Kind regards
Dave

Dave,

Bertrand is referring to the Garmin Monterra which he and I both have. Bertrand is the HUBB expert on the Monterra and has an excellent thread about it here on HU.

I'll be using a standard Garmin sat-nav loaded with Europe maps for the Europe segment as far east as Ukraine. Then I'll be switching over to the Monterra, for which I've downloaded the (free) Open Source Maps for Russia and Central Asia.

Ukraine-Russia
 

Travelled that route twice before (pre-conflict) with no problems, just the usual corrupt cops. Due to cross again later this year and will be keen to hear how its looking in the east and any issues on the eastern Ukraine-Russian border, since they have been known to cause delays and look for 'donations' on that border in the past!

It would be useful to get updates on the actual situation 'on the ground' in Ukraine, we plan to be heading that way in July on our way to China. Don't really want to divert via Latvia...

Regarding sat nav, I've just been trying out the free version of MapFactor Navigator on my 7" Android tablet, seems OK so far and you can download all the OSM maps you need for free too.

Andy