Send a letter to Ukraine from Sweden

Brev till Ukraina befordras, men leveranstiderna är långa och oförutsägbara. Områden som inte kontrolleras av ukrainska myndigheter nås inte alls. Kontrollera aktuell driftinformation hos PostNord innan du skickar något tidskritiskt, och skriv alltid avsändare.

Ukrainian addresses can be written using Latin characters. Use the transliteration provided by your recipient, as there are multiple systems in use.

Street addresses use 'vul.' (vulitsya, meaning street) before the street name, and 'kv.' (kvartira, meaning flat) after the building number if applicable.

The postcode has five digits and comes before the city name. For smaller towns and villages, include the oblast (region) to ensure correct delivery.

The final line of the address must be UKRAINA in uppercase. This is crucial: even though you're writing in English, the country name must be in Swedish because your letter is sorted in Sweden before leaving the country.

The last line is always the country name in Swedish: UKRAINA. This surprises people who write the rest of the address in English, but the letter is sorted in Sweden before it leaves the country, and Swedish sorting reads Swedish. Everything above that line should look exactly as it would if the letter had been posted inside Ukraine, because a postal worker there is the one who has to read it.

Almost every letter that fails to arrive has an address problem, not a transport problem. These are the mistakes that keep coming back on mail posted from Sweden to Ukraine:

Always add a sender address. A letter with a correct sender comes back to you if the address is wrong, and you can then send it again. Without one, the letter is simply gone.

Normal delivery is 10–30 vardagar, counted from the moment we hand the letter to PostNord — not from the moment you order. Order before 11:45 on a weekday and the letter is handed in the same day.

Most of the variation comes from distribution inside Ukraine rather than from the flight. A letter to a major city arrives faster than one to a rural address in the same country.

A standard letter to Ukraine costs 88 SEK and an express letter 128 SEK. Printing, paper, envelope, postage and hand-in to PostNord are all included. The price is the same to every country, so you never need to know which postal zone Ukraine belongs to.

PostNord divides the world into seven zones if you buy stamps and post the letter yourself, which is why other services charge different amounts for different countries. The table below shows both options.

Ukrposhta, the Ukrainian national postal operator, continues to deliver mail across large parts of the country despite the ongoing war. However, transport routes into Ukraine are severely limited, and delivery times are substantially longer than in peacetime. Mail typically arrives via neighbouring countries and is then transported internally, a process that can take several weeks.

Given the current situation, you should never send anything irreplaceable by post to Ukraine. Always include a complete return address so that your letter can be sent back to you if delivery proves impossible. Be prepared for extended delays, and consider that some areas may be temporarily or permanently unreachable by postal services.

Registered international mail (Rek utrikes) may contain documents only, weighs no more than 2 kg and carries liability up to 2,000 SEK. It can be tracked to most countries, and only one recipient may be named.

It is the right service for notices of termination, powers of attorney and legal documents where you need proof that the letter was sent. The country name still has to be written in Swedish on a registered letter — UKRAINA on the last line.

Banknotes and coins may not be sent in an international letter, in any currency and for any amount. Dangerous goods are prohibited. Goods sent in a letter to a country outside the EU require a customs declaration and a barcode that an ordinary letter does not carry.

We therefore send documents and personal letters only. That is also what keeps the service simple: no customs forms, no weighing and no questions about the contents.

You need no printer, no envelope and no international stamps. Everything happens in your browser, and the letter is handed to PostNord in Sweden by us.