So, I am off to Ukraine for work…never been to Europe so I am pretty excited. I do not speak a word of Russian or Ukrainian, so that’s going to be interesting.
Where are you going exactly? I’d love to go to Ukraine, sounds like a great trip.
As for advice, I think that picking up some set phrases is always a good idea. More so, I always tell people going to Russia (and the same should go for Ukraine) that they’ll enjoy their trip more if they learn to read Cyrrilic. YMMV, but it’s not too much of a hassle to learn, I taught my dad in a few hours when we went to Russia, and with some practice he ended up being able to spell out words quite quickly. I find that being able to read signs reduces the culture shock a bit, and it’ll help you figure out where you are when you get lost, make it easier to navigate the city, take public transport. Plus you get to figure out what the wrong-way-around R and the upside down N mean!
I know we spend two days in L’viv, but other than that am somewhere in a military training area (?)…so not sure…I’ll let you know when I found out where my plane is landing. 
I’ve got ancestors originating from that city, and I would like to visit it someday. Please take photos and report back!
I’ve been there. It is a lovely country in some ways, a third world kleptocracy in others.
First, the cities are a hodgepodge of a few really old historic buildings like churches/cathedrals, ugly decaying Soviet era buildings, and new construction that looks like something you might see in the US or Canada. Air conditioning is the exception, rather than the rule, even in a place like GUM.
There is mass transit, but crowded and hot (at this time of year) should be your expectation. It isn’t even as modern as US systems from the 1970’s. Oh, and there will be beggars on the subway cars.
There will be lots and lots of uniformed cops. To use my mother-in-law’s description of them (She lives in Ivano Frankivsk), most government employees have their hand out. Militia (the cops) have both hands out.
Beer is everywhere and it is both good and inexpensive. Drinking on the street is common. The street food I had was wonderful, but the sit-down restaurants were uniformly lousy.
Ukrainians don’t smile just to look friendly. They smile when they are happy or amused. It doesn’t mean they are hostile if they don’t smile when you are dealing with them.
Don’t be surprised if something from your luggage that wasn’t a problem anywhere else catches the attention of the airport security. On my last visit, they stole my razor blades as I was trying to leave for the US.
Flight is to L’viv and the training area is in the area-ish. It should be interesting, military ex, multi-national brigade (apparently the DComd is Romanian)…
I’ll take lots of pics and if you want to be added to my little mailing list (I send out emailed updates about what’s happening) pm or email me!
Just wanted to second this. English language signage in Russia is rare*, and I imagine it’s the same in Ukraine–but it helps a lot just to be able to “read” street signs. People get hung up on the Cyrillic alphabet, but it’s not really that hard. I think it took me a week, tops.
Also, be sure to check on the safety of the water. Again, Russian experience here, but you had decaying infrastructure that lead to unsafe water supplies–fine for bathing and arguably for brushing your teeth (I used it) but not for drinking, even for the locals. If you do have to buy water, you may want to specify still rather than sparkling.
*Aside, as I recall, from bathrooms, which commonly were labeld (in Latin letters) “WC”.
L’viv eh. That’s where three of the Eurocup games takes place - Germany, Portugal and Denmark play there (link) between 9 and 17 June. It’s a shame you won’t be in any of the cities where the Dutch play; their fans are the best!
As a bit of background, being all the way in the West of Ukraine, L’viv’s a stronghold for Ukrainian nationalism and during the Orange revolution support for Yushchenko was very strong here. From what I’ve gathered, if you go in and speak Russian in, say, Kiev, many Ukrainians will still speak Russian to you even if they prefer Ukrainian; in the west, however, they’ll simply refuse to speak Russian even when the languages are mutually intelligible for most speakers. Not that it looks like you’d be speaking either language, but it doesn’t hurt to be aware that where you’re going, people will probably insist that they are very much not Russian in any way.