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Agence France-Presse

Spanish traveller Alberto Blasco Ventas looked out at Ukraine’s destroyed Irpin bridge, blown up to stop Russian troops in 2022 and now a hotspot for thrill-seeking tourists visiting the country.
Russian forces had planned to cross the bridge during their attempt to seize the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, at the beginning of the war.
The Russian army has since retreated hundreds of kilometres away, but launches near-daily missile and drone strikes on Kyiv, the place Blasco Ventas chose for a holiday.
“It’s my first time in a war zone,” the 23-year-old software engineer said. “I’m a little bit scared, I’m not going to lie, because you never know.”


He was on a “dark tourism” tour offered by one of a dozen or so Ukrainian companies specialising in a marginal but growing sector – allowing tourists to visit locations of tragic events.
To get to Ukraine, he shrugged off concerns expressed by his family and got on a flight to Moldova, followed by an 18-hour train ride.
The wannabe influencer filmed every step of the trip, which he planned to post on his YouTube channel – which has 115,000 subscribers – where he has already chronicled the “most horrible psychiatric hospital” in the United States and “the most dangerous border” in the world, between China, Russia and North Korea.
Before the war, Ukraine already hosted tens of thousands of tourists every year in Chernobyl, which saw the world’s worst nuclear disaster in 1986.



Answering critics that would consider such trips morbid or immoral, Blasco Ventas insisted he was acting “with respect”.
War Tours, which organised his visit, said it has accommodated around 30 customers since January, mainly Europeans and Americans paying between €150 (US$157) and €250 per tour.
Part of the profits are given to the army, said company co-founder Dmytro Nykyforov, who insisted the initiative was “not about money, it’s about memorialisation of the war”.


Svitozar Moiseiv, the manager of tourism company Capital Tours Kyiv, said profits are negligible but the visits have an educational value.
“It’s like a vaccine to prevent this from ever happening again,” he said.
The visits generally centre around Kyiv and its suburbs, where Russian troops were accused of perpetrating massacres in early 2022.
But some companies take visitors closer to the front – including visits for several days to southern Ukraine that cost up to €3,300.
War brought attention to Ukraine, so we have a stronger brand. Everybody knows about our country
Mariana Oleskiv, head of Ukraine’s National Agency for Tourism Development
American Nick Tan, who works in finance for a New York tech company, was among those who wanted to go even further than Kyiv.
So he went in July to Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second largest city, which faces constant bombing from Russian forces. It is around 20km (12 miles) from the Russian border.
“I just wanted to see it because I think our lives in the West are just too comfortable and too easy,” the 34-year-old said.
He said he wanted to get even closer to the front but his guide refused.
The self-described thrill-seeker said he had already gone skydiving, and regularly attended boxing classes and raves.
“Jumping out of planes and partying all night and punching people in the face just did not do it for me any more. So what’s the next best thing? Going to a war zone.”


His quest baffled some residents of the scarred Irpin suburb, who live under the constant threat of Russian air attacks.
“A Shahed drone recently fell 300 metres [1,000ft] away from my house. I wouldn’t have any desire to live through this kind of experience,” said Ruslan Savchuk, 52.
“But if people want that for themselves, it’s their right,” he added.
Savchuk advises Irpin on its tourism strategy as a volunteer.
“Even a subject as difficult as war can lead to something good,” he said, adding tourists could generate useful income for local communities.
Mykhailyna Skoryk-Shkarivska, a local councillor in Irpin and former deputy mayor of nearby Bucha, said while most residents are fine with “dark tourism”, some consider the profits from it “blood money”.
“There are accusations – ‘Why do you come here? Why do you want to see our grief?’,” she said, recalling conversations with locals.
Mariana Oleskiv, head of the National Agency for Tourism Development, said the development of war tourism posed many ethical questions but that the market was bound to grow.



Her agency was preparing specific training for guides, as well as memorial tours in the Kyiv region.
The Russian invasion triggered an immediate collapse of the tourism industry, but the sector’s revenues should this year exceed those of 2021 – a year marked by the Covid-19 pandemic.
That growth mainly comes from domestic tourism fuelled by Ukrainian men of fighting age, who are generally not allowed to leave the country because of martial law.
Ukraine recorded 4 million foreign visitors in 2023, according to Oleskiv.
The number is twice as high as it was in 2022, but comprises mainly business travellers.
Ukraine is already preparing for the post-war period, including by signing deals with Airbnb and TripAdvisor.
“War brought attention to Ukraine, so we have a stronger brand. Everybody knows about our country,” Oleskiv said.


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Tourism

Ukraine war sites draw thrill-seekers as dark tourism industry grows

Spanish war tourist Alberto Blasco Ventas films destroyed buildings in Borodyanka, near Kyiv. Photo: AFP

Alberto Blasco Ventas visits a destroyed building in Irpin, near Kyiv, in Ukraine. The Spanish would-be influencer is one of a growing number of foreign tourists drawn to the sites of Russian attacks in the country. Photo: AFP

Ukrainian tour guide Oleksiy Goryachev shows Blasco Ventas the destroyed Irpin bridge, near Kyiv. Photo: AFP

During a tour in Irpin, Blasco Ventas films a video for his dark tourism YouTube channel, which has 115,000 subscribers. Photo: AFP

Blasco Ventas at a car cemetery in Irpin, where destroyed civilian vehicles have been piled together. Photo: AFP

Blasco Ventas visits a tank graveyard during a tour near Dmytrivka, a village outside Kyiv. Photo: AFP

Blasco Ventas says this is the first time he’s been to a war zone. Photo: AFP

Blasco Ventas with co-founder of War Tours Dmytro Nykyforov (right) and tour guide Goryachev next to the destroyed Irpin bridge. Nykyforov says the tours are not about money, but educating visitors. Photo: AFP

Blasco Ventas visits a damaged residential building during a tour in Irpin. Photo: AFP

Residents walk past destroyed residential buildings in Borodyanka, near Kyiv. Photo AFP

Many buildings in Borodyanka bear the scars of Russian attacks. Photo: AFP

Borodyanka residents walk past graffiti by international and Ukrainian artists painted on the rubble of destroyed buildings. Photo: AFP

In Borodyanka, a statue of Ukrainian poet Taras Shevchenko stands riddled with bullet holes from the fighting there. Photo: AFP

A resident walks past a damaged building in Borodyanka. Photo: AFP

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Ukraine is drawing rising numbers of war tourists, who visit scenes of Russian attacks – to the bafflement of some of its people


Ukraine is drawing rising numbers of war tourists, who visit scenes of Russian attacks – to the bafflement of some of its people.


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Ukraine

Ukraine war