Our expert answers your questions about Ukraine

I think that different generations have different opinions on this matter. Among relatively young (post-Soviet) people, in general, most likely there will be no prejudice towards such a person, everyone decides for her/himself how to live. However, a number of representatives of the older generation may not approve of this and will consider that apparently something is wrong with this person.

As of August 2018, Alchevsk is not under control of Ukrainian officials, so you can't go there. The first step is to offer this person to communicate via something like Skype with a webcam turned on. Internet is still available in this area so it should not be a problem. After several such talks you can offer to meet in such large cities as Kyiv or Kharkiv and it will be the final check. Locals can leave the conflict zone, passes are issued for free, there are regular buses available.

This is a rather complicated issue, because Ukraine gained independence only recently and the Ukrainian nation is in the process of its active formation now. You can draw historical parallels in terms of how the United States was a British colony, and Ukraine was under the control of Russia. However, it was not a colony in the full sense of the word.

Today, Ukraine is fighting to preserve its independence obtained after the collapse of the USSR (the conflict with Russia in the east of the country). And this conflict will definitely play an important role the formation of the Ukrainian nation.

In some ways, Ukrainians have similarities with Canadians - there are two main languages of communication: Ukrainian and Russian. There is a relatively large Ukrainian diaspora in Canada.

After the last Ukrainian revolution of 2013-2014 (Euromaidan), the level of patriotism in Ukraine is very high, which also makes Americans and Ukrainians very similar.

Today, about 40-45% of men and 20% of women smoke in Ukraine.

On June 1, 2014, the urban population of Ukraine amounted to 29,460.4 thousand people (68.79%), the rural population - 13,365.4 thousand people (31.21%).

I think you should try to contact Ukrainian detective agencies. I found the contacts of several agencies (first, second, third). You can use the following service to translate the sites from Russian if necessary.

The average wage in the first months of 2011 in Kharkov was 2267 Hryvnas or about 280 USD per month.

Main nations living in Nikolaev are Ukrainians (72,7%), Russians (23,1%), Belarusians (0,8%), Bulgarians (0,8%), Jews (0,5%).

The total Asian population is an absolute minority in Ukraine as Ukrainians are about 78% of population and Russians are about 17%. The largest minority is of Crimean Tatars people living mainly in Crimea (about 230,000). The other nations of your interest are spread all over the country. You can check for more information on the following site about the results of all Ukrainian population census of 2001.

I couldn't find exact numbers but in general English language speaking is common mostly for young people because of integrating Ukraine into English speaking world happened last two decades. As for middle-aged people and older English language knowing is not widely spread.