Telephone numbers in Ukraine


2009 dialing plan

On 14 October 2009, Ukraine switched to the dialing conventions common in the European Union.
In order to call abroad, users need to dial 00 before the country code. For instance, to call Vancouver, Canada, from Kiev, users dial 00 1 778 xxx xxxx.
Calling nationwide requires dialing 0 and then the region code followed by the local number. For instance, to call Kiev from Odessa, users dial 0 44 xxx xxxx. The same convention was adopted for mobile operators.
For local calls, users can still dial the local number without a 0 and the area code. Mobile users must dial the full 0-prefixed number, although operators may implement local dialing in cities.
The in-country sequence for ordinary zones consists of a 2-digit zone code, an optional subzone code, an optional filler and the local phone number. When dialing from cell phones, the in-country dial sequence is used even for phones of the same provider. Otherwise a call may be placed in the nearest geographic area.
Area codes correspond to geographic regions with exception of Kiev and formerly Sevastopol which utilize their own area code. See Area codes in Ukraine for current list.
Cell phone numbers can be assigned both within the cell phone provider zone and within a geographic zone. The latter arrangement is used mainly for CDMA phones and for GSM operators selling their connectivity within one city, like GoldenTelecom GSM. Allocation of new GSM cell phone numbers within a geographic zone is very rare now because law requires all incoming calls to be free, including incoming calls to a cell phone.
Some examples of dialed sequences:
xxx-xx-xx
050 xxx-xx-xx
067 xxx-xx-xx
0800 xxx-xxx
044 xxx-xx-xx
045 94x-xx-xx
046 xxx-xx-xx
032 2xx-xx-xx
00...
+380 44 xxx-xx-xx
+380 45 94x-xx-xx
+380 48 xxx-xx-xx
+380 48 2xx-xx-xx
+380 32 xxx-xx-xx
+380 32 2xx-xx-xx
+380 50 xxx-xx-xx
+380 66 xxx-xx-xx
+380 95 xxx-xx-xx
+380 99 xxx-xx-xx
+380 63 xxx-xx-xx
+380 73 xxx-xx-xx
+380 93 xxx-xx-xx
+380 67 xxx-xx-xx
+380 68 xxx-xx-xx
+380 96 xxx-xx-xx
+380 97 xxx-xx-xx
+380 98 xxx-xx-xx
+380 91 xxx-xx-xx
+380 92 xxx-xx-xx
+380 94 xxx-xx-xx
Some mobile operators may support additional dialing plans. For example, Kyivstar also supports the following:
xxx-xx-xx
67-xxx-xx-xx
Note that law explicitly prohibits trunk calls to a PSTN phone within the same local area in a geographic phone zone, so one cannot dial 0~2 or 0~xx for this, unless the phone exchange is misconfigured or a special circumstance occurs.
The switch to a closed numbering plan, which will introduce seven digit-long numbers for all zones, should be complete in 2011-2012.
Notice, that when using older non-digital extensions for the inter-city, international calls as well as the calls made to the national mobile and sip-numbers, it may be necessary to wait for a continuous dial tone after the first 0. This applies to the old-style rotary phones. For example, to call a Chernihiv local landline number from Kiev, one needs to dial 0, wait for a dial tone, then dial 46 and then dial the local number in that city. Similarly, when calling Vancouver, Canada, one needs to dial 0, wait for the dial tone, dial another 0 to access international line, then dial 1, followed by 778, followed by the 7-digit local number.
Due to the last digit of the country code being identical to the trunk prefix, international format numbers are often presented as +38 0..., e.g. the Kiev number +38 044 555 1234. +38 belonged to Yugoslavia before its disintegration in the early 1990s, and the +38 code was broken up and distributed amongst the former republics. +380 went to Ukraine, which previously used the +7 code.

Previous dialing plan

Ukraine used to have a four-level open dialing plan. For all non-local numbers, the required trunk prefix was '8' followed by an auxiliary dial tone after it, with the following '2' for in-zone calls, followed by an area code, and '10' for international calls.