The US has maintained the highest level of danger for Ukraine: what has changed before the Israelis’ trip to Uman

The US State Department updated its recommendations on Ukraine on August 28 and maintained the maximum Level 4, but the previous separate relaxation for nine western regions disappeared from the new version. For Israel, this detail is especially important just days before the mass departure of pilgrims for Rosh Hashanah in Uman. Author: Alexander Khmelnitsky

If you are looking for “US raised danger level for Ukraine,” “State Department Level 4 Ukraine,” “can you go to Uman in 2026,” or “US warning before Rosh Hashanah,” there is a fundamental detail: On August 28, 2026, Washington did not raise the warning level. Ukraine was already at the maximum Level 4 — Do Not Travel.

Something else changed: the content of the recommendation and how the western regions of Ukraine are now presented in it.

The State Department did not raise the level: what really happened on August 28

I compared the new edition of the State Department’s warning with the previous one. In the document dated August 28, the American agency itself separately states: the warning level has not changed.

Ukraine remains at Level 4 — “Do Not Travel.”

Level 4 is the maximum category of the American Travel Advisory system. For an ordinary US citizen, this is not a border entry ban, but the government’s strictest official recommendation not to travel. The reasons are the ongoing full-scale Russian aggression against Ukraine, missile and drone strikes, closed civil air traffic, movement restrictions, and limited consular assistance.

What changed on August 28? The State Department updated the description of the armed conflict risks and the summary. The new wording became extremely broad: do not travel to Ukraine for any reason due to the war.

For me, the difference between the two statements is important here. At NANews — News of Israel we write about Ukrainian events for the Israeli reader, who is not obliged to remember the American bureaucratic scale. “The US maintained the maximum level” and “The US only now announced the maximum level” are two different stories.

Nine western regions disappeared from the document with Level 3

Here, indeed, a noticeable change occurred.

In the edition of November 14, 2024, Ukraine as a whole had Level 4, but nine regions were placed in a separate, softer category Level 3 — Reconsider Travel.

These are Volyn, Lviv, Zakarpattia, Ivano-Frankivsk, Chernivtsi, Ternopil, Rivne, Khmelnytskyi, and Zhytomyr regions.

In the current edition of August 28, 2026, this list is no longer present.

At the same time, I would not attribute to Washington the wording “The US officially canceled Level 3 for western Ukraine”: the State Department did not make such a separate statement.

The fact is already interesting enough without amplifiers. In the previous version, there was a regional exception. In the new one, it is not, and the document opens with a unified wording Ukraine — Level 4: Do Not Travel.

Practically, this also matters. Previously, a person opening the American recommendation saw a formal difference between part of western Ukraine and most of the country. Now there is no such boundary in the current text.

What Level 4 means if a person still decided to go

If you read the American document beyond the headline, it quickly stops looking like another diplomatic formality.

The US Embassy in Kyiv is open, but its employees are restricted in their movements. Special permission is required for trips of American government officials outside Kyiv, and their families are not allowed by the State Department to join them in Ukraine due to security risks.

It is separately emphasized that Russian missiles and drones attack not only front-line areas. Americans are advised to respond to air raid alerts, always know the location of the nearest shelter, and have their own evacuation plan that does not depend on US government evacuation.

For trips to high-risk areas, the recommendations reach rather unpleasant things: pre-arrange necessary powers of attorney and documents, discuss with relatives the fate of children and property in case the person does not return, and leave a DNA sample with a medical provider.

There is another line, especially understandable in Israel, where many immigrants from Ukraine live: dual citizenship.

If an Israeli citizen is also a citizen of Ukraine, on Ukrainian territory they fall under Ukrainian law. The Israeli embassy in Kyiv separately warns such citizens that in the event of legal restrictions on leaving the country, Israel cannot simply overturn the decision of the Ukrainian authorities.

Why this story is now called Uman for Israel

Rosh Hashanah 5787 begins on the evening of September 11, 2026. But Ukrainian services expect the mass arrival of pilgrims already from September 6. At preparatory meetings, it was discussed that more than 30,000 people from Israel alone are expected.

And here the American update of August 28 is no longer an abstract news about US citizens.

Ukrainian airspace is closed to civil aviation. Therefore, a trip from Israel to Uman today means a flight to one of the countries neighboring Ukraine, a further land route, crossing the border, and traveling through a country where Russian missile and drone attacks continue.

On July 29, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine separately warned Hasidic pilgrims: in the conditions of the ongoing war, the state cannot guarantee full security for foreign citizens. At the same time, Ukraine is preparing police, border guards, medics, and infrastructure for people who will still come. There is no contradiction here: warning about the risk and preparing for the real arrival of tens of thousands of people have to be done simultaneously.

NANews — News of Israel has already detailed how Israel is preparing a police operation for the trip to Uman. And on August 25, another line appeared: Israel and Ukraine are discussing not only Uman but also a broader system of religious routes.

Therefore, the date of the American update is important: August 28 — less than two weeks before Rosh Hashanah and about nine days before the expected start of the mass flow of pilgrims.

Why Israeli Level 2 does not cancel American Level 4

There is another figure that, without explanation, can completely confuse a person.

In the Israeli state registry, Ukraine simultaneously appears with Level 2 of the Israeli National Security Council — a potential threat, where it is recommended to take increased precautions.

So America — Level 4, Israel — Level 2?

Yes. But you cannot directly compare these two numbers.

The American Travel Advisory includes a wide range of factors: war, the possibility of consular assistance, aviation situation, movement restrictions, evacuation, and other travel risks.

The Israeli National Security Council system has its own methodology for assessing threats to Israelis abroad and exists in parallel with separate recommendations from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Moreover, in the Israeli state registry, there is a separate warning for Israelis with Ukrainian citizenship about possible restrictions when leaving.

Therefore, the phrase “Israel considers Ukraine twice as safe as the US” would look impressive but would not explain anything.

These are different scales. Comparing only the numbers here is about as useful as comparing 30 degrees Celsius and 86 degrees Fahrenheit and wondering why one thermometer shows almost three times more.

Britain maintained western exceptions, and the US found another detail

For additional verification, I looked at the British recommendation, current as of August 27.

London still distinguishes Ukrainian regions. For most of the country, Britons are advised to completely avoid travel. But for Lviv, Zakarpattia, Ivano-Frankivsk, Ternopil, and Chernivtsi regions, as well as parts of Volyn, Rivne, and Zhytomyr, a softer formula remains — do not travel unless absolutely necessary.

At the same time, the British side provides figures that well explain why even western Ukraine cannot be turned into a conditional “safe zone”: over the past three months, Russia launched on average more than 5,000 drones and more than 100 missiles per month. Only in July 2026, according to the British assessment, about 150 ballistic missiles were launched.

There was also another small but indicative detail already in the American text.

The State Department writes that on February 24, 2022, a state of emergency was declared in Ukraine. But the Ukrainian presidential decree No. 64/2022 from this date legally introduced martial law — воєнний стан.

For an Israeli, this can be very roughly explained as a special emergency legal regime during the war, but equating it with the Israeli מצב חירום legally would be incorrect.

This inaccuracy does not change the American Level 4. But it well shows why I did not retell one page of the State Department line by line.

As of August 29, the picture is more complex: The US did not make a sudden new increase in the danger level for Ukraine. They maintained the long-standing maximum Level 4, updated the description of military risks, and the previous separate Level 3 exception for nine western regions disappeared from the current text.

And this happened precisely when Israel and Ukraine are already entering the final phase of preparing tens of thousands of people for the trip to Uman.

Sources: U.S. Department of State — Ukraine Travel Advisory, editions of 08/28/2026 and 11/14/2024; Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine — warning for pilgrims from 07/29/2026; Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Israel and the Embassy of Israel in Kyiv; Israeli National Security Council — state travel warning registry; UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office — Ukraine Travel Advice, current as of 08/27/2026; Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine — Presidential Decree No. 64/2022.