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About Kyrylo

Kharkiv-based fixer and local producer, and a university lecturer. I have lived and worked in Kharkiv throughout Russia's full-scale invasion, guiding international visitors and film crews through shelled districts such as Northern Saltivka, and I know the city's people, routes and shelters. For visiting journalists, documentary teams and NGOs I arrange contributors (residents, volunteers, first responders, doctors, teachers at the city's underground schools), interpret Ukrainian and Russian to English, organise a car and driver, plan routes around air-raid risks, and advise on press accreditation and access in Kharkiv oblast. I have been featured and interviewed by RFE/RL, Current Time, Dagens Nyheter (Sweden) and SAPO (Portugal). I work with War Tours Ukraine, whose team handles planning and coordination, so you get a single point of contact before and during the trip.

Services
Languages
Russian Ukrainian English
Seen in
BostonGlobe.com RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty SAPO

Work 5

The 'Dark Tourism' Keeping Ukraine's Travel Industry Alive

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty 29 May 2026 English

RFE/RL feature by Amos Chapple on how war tourism is keeping Ukraine's travel industry alive. I am interviewed as the guide who leads tours of war-affected sites in Kharkiv, about how locals react when I work with film crews carrying camera equipment, the residents who invite visitors into their destroyed flats to tell their stories, and the fact that most of my clients come from the US and Japan.

Dark tourism War tourism Ukraine's tourism industry Russian invasion of Ukraine Ukraine Kyiv Kharkiv Ukraine's State Agency for Tourism Development Russia Vitalii Syniakov Kirill Zarubin Amos Chapple
Reporting styleInformative

Primarily reported and fact-based, with some descriptive and human-interest framing.

Spring in Ukraine means the return of blooms, battles, and wartime tourists

The Boston Globe 12 May 2026 English

Boston Globe feature on wartime tourism in Ukraine: the small but growing number of foreigners who visit despite travel warnings, and how the government is training guides to keep visits safe and respectful. It follows travellers to Kyiv, Bucha, Irpin and Kharkiv, including an Austrian visitor who booked War Tours Ukraine tours of Kyiv and Kharkiv. In Kharkiv, I am the team's local guide and fixer.

Wartime Tourism in Ukraine Russia-Ukraine War Ukraine's Tourism Industry Travel Safety Ukraine Kyiv Lviv Government of Ukraine Russia Capital Tours Kyiv War Tours in Ukraine Jan Medved
Reporting styleInformative

Mostly factual reporting, with limited descriptive and emotional framing.

SAPO (Portugal) feature on war tourism in Ukraine. The story follows me, a 29-year-old university lecturer from Kharkiv whose life changed with the full-scale invasion, as I guide international visitors who want to see the consequences of the war and everyday life in a frontline city with their own eyes.

SAPO 28 Feb 2026 Portuguese

War Tours, a project led by Kharkiv university lecturer Kirill Zarubin, offers small-group visits to sites connected with the war in Kharkiv, Kyiv, and Irpin/Bucha. Visitors pay €200–€350 to learn about the conflict and daily life in Ukraine; part of the proceeds goes to the Ukrainian military and humanitarian support. Zarubin says the tours show that, despite frequent attacks, air-raid alerts, electricity cuts, and curfews, people continue their lives. He considers visits relatively safe when travelers follow alerts and news, while warning that areas near the Russian border and front line are more dangerous. With no commercial flights operating, travelers enter by land, and western destinations are identified as safer options. Zarubin hopes the project will expand as conditions allow.

War tourism Russian invasion of Ukraine Travel safety Life during wartime Ukraine Kharkiv Kyiv War Tours Visit Ukraine Ukrainian Armed Forces Kirill Zarubin
Reporting styleInformative

Primarily a factual report based on interviews and travel information, though it includes the guide’s personal perspective.

War Tourists Visit Ukraine to See the Devastation Up Close

Video Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) 11 Jan 2025 English

Nearly three years after Russia's full-scale invasion, a small but growing number of tourists are visiting Ukraine to see wartime destruction firsthand. Kharkiv resident Kyrylo Zarubin guides visitors through shell-damaged neighborhoods and emergency centers offering aid. Tourists are struck both by the scale of the destruction and by Ukrainians' ability to persevere.

War Tourism Russia's Invasion of Ukraine War Damage Humanitarian Aid Ukrainian Resilience Ukraine Kharkiv Russia Kyrylo Zarubin
Reporting styleInformative

Primarily factual reporting, with a brief emphasis on visitors' shock and Ukrainians' perseverance.

Dagens Nyheter (Sweden) feature on companies offering war tours in Ukraine. I am interviewed as a tourist guide in Kharkiv, explaining that visitors are not looking for danger but want to form their own view of the situation on the ground.

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