Each city has it's unique "character" or traits that people tend to associate with it. DU team members travel all about Ukraine and can describe each city quite well. If you are interested to know about a particular city, just write us an email and we'll gladly share everything we know.

This article is just an attempt of a little generalization. We made a list of the most frequently visited Ukrainian cities, and here is the most common association with each of them.

Kiev (Kyiv) - the capital - the center of politics; the city of the country's main international airport; historical and cultural center.
Cherkasy - a city located in 2 hours of ride from Kiev that attracts mostly tourists who are interested in Slavonic history.
Chernihiv - one of the oldest cities, usually called the city of churches and monasteries that attracts thousands of tourists interested in Slavonic and Christian history
Chernivtsi - a nice middle sized city with old and rich history that dates back to 12-th century. Very nice city center; many churches and historical/sightseeing places. The famous fortress of Kamenets-Podilskiy and Khotyn - great tourist attractions, are located close to Chernivtsy.
Dnipropetrovsk - a large industrial city on Dnipro river. Most of it's population (of more than a million) speaks Russian there. The city's been noted for fast and massive construction of the recent decade. 
Donetsk - the largest industrial center of Easter Ukraine. Mining insustry, metallurgical insudtry and a few heavy machinery plants  make it the city of proletariat. There are many unemployed people there. All population is Russian, and there are strong pro-Russian sentiments among the population. A famous Ukrainian oligarkh (one of the richest people) owns lots of property in Donetsk, and the city today has lots of beautiful buildings and a number of entertainment establishments, mostly for very rich people.
Ivano-Frankivsk - one of the nicest, cleanest cities in the country. It is famous for its rich history and lots of sightseeing
Kharkiv - city of universities and research centers. In the Soviet time the city was the country's important industrial center, but today 1/3 of population is engaged in trade. Kharkiv's Barabashovo market is famous far beyond the borders of Ukraine. Almost half of a million people work there, and it daily accepts more than a million visitors.
Kherson - middle sized city at the Azov Sea. Recently has become popular as the city of brides, due to a few very aggressively developing marriage companies located there.
Luhansk - this city is equally associated with mining industry and the marriage industry. Being a young city that was built to support mining industry, it has recently gained popularity among foreign visitors as the city of brides. In the recent decades, Lugansk has become notoriously popular as Ukrainian center of marriage scamming.
Lviv - the pearl of tourism at the Western Ukraine. The oldest city with an immense history, beautiful architecture and absolutely wonderful culture. The city is famous for its coffe houses, little museums and exhibitions scattered all over the old city center, and convenicnt location near the gorgeous Carpathian mountains.
Mykolaiv (Nikolaiv) - middle sized city not far from Odessa. Recently has become popular as the city of brides, due to a few very aggressively developing marriage companies located there.
Odessa - first of all is associated with its huge Black sea port, a few beautiful and famous buildings (Opera House), and with big messy and noisy markets.  But  more than this, odessa is notorious as a city of... scammers! One must stay alert all the time n Odessa. Every minute you are in the risk of being cheated, robbed or scammed. Well, some tourists find this "spicy flavor" of Odessa attractive, and go there deliberately to see if they can stay alert against being scammed, which may be very inventive sometimes. Among the big variety of scammers, women-brides who sign up with dating companies and scam foreign visitors, are not unusual. Some of these ladies are very smart and charming at the same time. So, if you are a single man - oy! - think twice before reacting to ANY offer. :-) 
Poltava - a middle sized historical city in central Ukraine which is regarded the center of Ukrainian culture. Local population is mostly agrarian and people speak a mixture of Russian and Ukrainian language.
Sevastopol, Crimea - a former navy base of the Soviet navy, the city of military glory and a tourist attraction.Very clean, beautiful looking city located in the picturescue area. Famous Balaclava and Khersonesos attract millions of tourists to Sevastopol each year.
Sumy - An industrial city near the northern border between Ukraine and Russia. It has a number of great inexpensive night clubs, which makes it popular among local and foreign tourists.
Ternopil - the area of rich history where many Jewish, Polish and German families used to live. Large part of population immigrated from the city in the 20-th century, and now it is frequently visited by those who are looking for their family roots in Ukraine.
Vinnytsa - a transportation center between Kiev and the Western Ukraine.
Uzhgorod - a nice but small historical city in Western Ukraine, in the Carpathians. Very clean air and beautiful natire around. The city has a few Cathedrals and churches that are worth visiting, but staying there for more than one day is boring.
Yalta, Crimea - the pearl of Crimean Black Sea tourism. The city's main and only industry is tourism. One will find hundreds of hotels and guest houses there, as well as numerous restaurants, night clubs, dozens of casinos and lots of night entertainment places. The city is badly overcrowded, especially in summer season.
Zaporizhia - center of industry, one of the most polluted cities in the country. It is famous for it's Kossak history, the former Soviet industry giant "the Dneproges Damb", the beautiful Khortitsa island on Dnepro river and a few very poorly run hotels. The city is stretched along the river, and its central street named after Lenin is 14km long.
Zhytomyr - a nice, clean city near Kiev.