I was in the Ukraine 15 years ago and it was pretty bad. I stayed with friends . . . they never let me go anywhere alone, and I had to carry my camera in a grocery bag. We drove to the Carpathian mtns and got into a wreck.
One afternoon, on a busy street in Lvov, a car stopped, a guy in a suit jumped out, grabbed another guy in a suit, punched him until he fell to the ground, and then got back in the car. The rest of the people just looked and kept walking. I was never so glad to get back to the USA.