Looks like I'll be heading to Kyiv next week for work. Anybody been there? Thoughts? Recommendations?

Id happily go. Hopefully you aren't married as the women are beautiful.

Well I'm back from Kiev, so I'm going to do a quick trip report. First, I was there for business so I didn't get to see much of the city or take any pictures. So apologies for that, but I will happily talk about what I know.

Public Transportation
Public transportation in Kiev is stuck in the 1960's. The metro does not reach the airport, so you have to take a bus from there. There are buses all over the city that reminded me of Turkey. They were poorly labeled and small. I was fortunate that we had somebody to drive us around so I never had to take it. I imagine that it could be quite difficult to navigate if you aren't familiar with the system or (especially) the language.

Driving
Holy crap. Do not even think about driving in this city unless you are ridiculously aggressive behind the wheel. I haven't seen anything like it (though I haven't ventured over to Asia yet). Most of the roads don't have lanes delineated because the paint gets removed anyway when they are constantly clearing up the snow. If you wait to merge, you will sit in the same place for hours. You seriously have to just butt in and hope nobody knocks into your car.
People park on the sidewalks. In fact, I saw one guy who was tired of the traffic just drive up on the sidewalk and drive past everybody else. And the pedestrians don't care -- they're used to it and just act like it's totally normal.

The Women
If you like good looking women, do not go to Kiev. Why, you ask... because the women there are absolutely gorgeous and you will be disappointed on a daily basis when you return home.
I have been to Sweden, Finland, Turkey, Italy, and the women in the Ukraine were - on average - by far the most beautiful I have seen. Something in the water just gives them beautiful faces and long legs.

Language
This is probably one of the primary barriers to visiting. English is not widely spoken in Kiev, and their alphabet is Cyrillic (similar to Russian). But it's not Russian. I started picking up a few letters here and there but there's no way I could attempt to read anything. Before visiting, I would highly recommend being able to recognize some of the important words that you might need such as pharmacy, hospital, bank and hotel.

Airport
Currently there are two terminals at the airport, but a third is under construction and will likely be open by the end of 2012. I flew in on British Airways from London and flew out (to Budapest) on Aerosvit Airlines. I liked Aerosvit. It was only a 90 minute flight but I checked my bag for free and got a sandwich for free during the flight. Take that, American Airlines.
One of the funniest things about flying there from London is that your plane will pull up to about 50 yards away from the airport. Then everybody will get off the plane and board a bus. Then it will drive about 1/4 mile in a large U-shape to drop you off at the terminal that you basically started at in the first place.

What To Do
Unfortunately I can't speak much to this because I was there on business. We went to a restaurant called the Lancelot which was "themed" like the middle ages. They also have a secret casino in the back that you can really only go to if you know the right people (apparently the guy hosting us does). In fact, I played blackjack with a former head of the KGB. I thought that was pretty cool.
Chernobyl is about an hour away and from the research I did, there are very limited tours that you can do there. I would like to do that the next time I go, I think it would be interesting.
The 2012 EuroCup is going to take place in Ukraine this June, so for you football (soccer) fans, it should be busy.
Khreschatyk Street is the busy center of the city. Lots of hotels, bars, people, etc.

Money
Ukraine's currency is the Hyrvna and currently it is 8 UAH to 1 USD. Prices are reasonable.

Architecture
This is something I liked about the city. You will see Soviet-style planned architecture on one side of the street, then see post-communist architecture directly across. It makes for a pretty neat contrast. Make sure when you book a hotel, you get one that has been renovated to current standards or else your room might be a really small, Soviet-era box.

Vodka
You can drink vodka like water here if you wish. When you order vodka at dinner, they will bring shot glasses for everybody drinking. You'll make your toast and drain your glass. Then they'll refill it. And they will continue to do so until the bottle is empty or your liver explodes. Whichever happens first.

Food
Borscht is the national dish. It's a cabbage and beet soup. That's the best way I can describe it. It doesn't sound good (at least not to me) but it was quite tasty. Put some sour cream in it to make it even tastier.
Varenyky is another common dish. They are dumplings stuffed with potato, egg, meat or cabbage.

Hookers
I need to include this category because it's (a) a stereotype of what Ukraine has to offer and (b) they really do offer lots of this.
If you want a hooker, it's not hard to find one. Just head down to some of the hotels at the city center at night. If you don't want a hooker, you don't have to worry. They aren't going to sneak up on you and make you uncomfortable.

Did I mention the women are beautiful?

Thanks for that. That sounds a lot like how things are in Russia, which should come as no surprise.

As for Cyrillic, the letters are easy to pick up if you study a little before you go. Just knowing the pronunciation of the letters helped a lot for menus - a lot of the items are similar to English words but you would have no idea (words like spaghetti, pizza, etc all were close enough from the cyrillic to English). Obviously, a lot aren't as well.

And I am with you, the soviets did something right to their women and I would like to thank them for it.