Before you start

An unlocked phone — eSIM is supported by all three operators
For registration: a passport, or your residence permit
Cash or a card; SIMs are sold everywhere including supermarkets

Step-by-step

1
Buy a SIM on arrival
Operator shops are dense and supermarkets sell starter packs. Ask for a tariff with a large data allowance rather than minutes; Ukraine's data prices are among the lowest in Europe and almost all communication here happens over messengers.
In personWho: YouTen minutesStarter packs are inexpensive; generous monthly bundles are typically a few hundred hryvnia
2
Register the number to your document
At an operator shop with your passport or residence permit, or online where the operator supports it — Vodafone offers online registration, lifecell calls the process personification, and Kyivstar registers in shop against a Ukrainian or an international passport. It is not a legal obligation; it is what makes the number recoverable.
In personWho: YouFifteen minutesFree
3
Install the apps the city runs on
Повітряна тривога for alerts, Diia for government services, your bank's app, and the taxi apps. Follow the Dnipro city council's channel and the oblast military administration's rather than an aggregator — curfew changes, shelter information and security designations for the oblast's districts are announced there first.
Mobile appWho: YouAn evening
4
If your work takes you east in the oblast, carry two networks and a satellite plan
Coverage thins substantially towards the combat-designated areas, positioning is unreliable, and infrastructure has been damaged. Anyone doing humanitarian, medical or logistics work outside the city carries a second SIM on a different operator, downloads offline maps, and tells someone their route before leaving. This is normal professional practice in Dnipro, not an abundance of caution.
In personWho: YouOne shopping trip and one conversationA second SIM and a large power bank, a few hundred to a few thousand hryvnia

Documents you’ll need

Passport or residence permit, for registration
An unlocked handset, or an eSIM-capable one
Nothing at all, if you only want a working prepaid SIM today

Things most newcomers don’t know

Ukraine does not require you to show a passport to buy and use a prepaid SIM.

It is genuinely unusual and catches people out in both directions — arrivals expect an ordeal and get none, then find months later that an unregistered number cannot be recovered after a theft.

Source: Kyivstar / Vodafone / lifecell registration pages

Two networks is the local standard for anyone who leaves the city.

Coverage in Dnipro is good; coverage towards the combat-designated districts is not, and infrastructure there has been damaged. Everyone doing field work in this oblast carries a second SIM, and the reason is not redundancy for its own sake.

Source: community-reported

Kyivstar allows a maximum of ten numbers registered per document.

Relevant if you are setting up a team, a household or devices; the cap is on the document.

Source: Kyivstar

Connectivity in Dnipro is a power problem before it is a network problem.

The masts are modern and the data is cheap. What takes you offline is an outage draining base-station batteries and killing your building's router. A UPS on the router and a big power bank solve most of it.

Source: community-reported

Common mistakes to avoid

Not registering the number, then losing the phone.
Buying a tariff sold on call minutes. Almost nobody here calls; buy data.
Assuming home internet survives a blackout. It survives exactly as long as the router's power source does.
Relying on one operator, or on live navigation, outside the city.

Some of this may be out of date. Spotted something inaccurate? Help us keep it right for the next newcomer.