My wife and I passed through the region last year, coming from Georgia (which is totally beautiful btw!) to Astrakhan. And I must say we had no experiences that were in any way threatening or even uncomfortable. We got the usual "the place you've just been to / are going to is totally dangerous and full of thieves, rapists and murderers, but here is really friendly" pretty much everywhere we stopped. And everywhere we stopped was actually really friendly. But that pretty common elsewhere as well. :thumbup1:

There were a lot of police check points in Ingushetia, Chechnya and Dagestan, but they never stopped us and seemed more interested in trucks and busses.

One time, while shopping at a small village shop in Chechnya, we had to be very insistent before the lady running it would let us pay. In the end we grabbed a lot of extra stuff and told her she couldn't possibly let us not pay for everything we were taking...

Glad it went well,but thats the classic impressions of arriving in a new place and dont know much about what surrounds you in 'reality'.Sure most people arent 'terrorists' and probably nice..like also maybe 99% op people going throu has no problems.fact is there several travel warnings in this area.'s gota be a reason..
keep in mind your travel insurance will do their best to reject claims,while there doh

this is from The Australian Gov..but there is warnings from most Govs:

North Caucasus: Chechnya, Dagestan, Ingushetia, North Ossetia, the south-east part of Stavropol bordering Chechnya, Karbardino-Balkaria and Karachay-Cherkessia: We strongly advise you not to travel to the North Caucasus, in particular the regions of Chechnya, Dagestan, Ingushetia, North Ossetia, the south-east part of Stavropol bordering Chechnya, Karbardino-Balkaria (including the Elbrus area), and Karachay-Cherkessia because of the high threat of terrorist activity.
The Australian Government is extremely limited in its capacity to provide consular assistance in the North Caucasus. If, despite our advice not to travel, you decide to go to this region, monitor local conditions through the media and travel operators in advance of your travel.
Tensions in Georgia may also impact security in the area bordering Russia. See our travel advisory for Georgia for details.
:( :frown:

I thought you were OK if you avoided the conflict zones in the east of UA.

Information on Ukraine border crossings

The E38 Katerynivka crossing should be OK, unless anyone has recent first hand experience?

I'm sure there's risks, and given recent events it is definitely not a good time to be openly gay in the region. But there are risks everywhere. And generally people aren't very good at estimating risk, so before we went there I did some research and could find very few actual incidents involving tourists.
As for travel warnings I generally ignore them and try to look for actual figures and recent experiences from others. Hell, my own government even issues travel warnings for France, our neighbour. And while on the road I heard people say they'd never come to Belgium, because it is dangerous and full of terrorists...
Most places in the world are fine, most people as well, really. That doesn't mean you should not be vigilant and try to assess every specific situation you walk into. But don't overestimate the general risk either.

I asked a russian friend that lives in 300kms west of Yekaterinburg,not too far from border u mention:

Latvia is better! The traffic police in Ukraine is unpredictable. And as you know its a war there.can be rough. and in Ukraine they also could do not allow you to cross the border.

Hey Cliffi, it is not a phone it is a city and called SAMSUN :thumbup1: