I haven't been there despite all the trips over there. My wife is from Cherkassy, about 2 1/2 hrs drive south of Kyiv. Her friend is a nurse at a local hospital.
Another thing that perplexes me about the guys there is that they are always trading "up" for younger women. It seems to me that if a woman is 40 or older she has little chance of re-marriage to a local man. They are given the 'babuska' status.
When I began my search I wanted to find someone alot closer to my age than a hot young 25 year old..
Not that they aren't nice eye candy!!! ..
I didn't like the idea of one that might be a daughters age for a long term relationship.

My thoughts on the travel issue are that yes the travel aspect can be a challenge and a lot of people just don't rise to the challenge.

Is it their loss? In my opinion yes it is their loss but then, "One man's meat another man's poison"

As Yannis said, "Who dares wins" if you extract the dare from the sentence and you end up with a question "Who wins", and the answer that I will give is he who dares.

There are many people out there for whom the thought of leaving their comfort zone is a terrifying thought and they would not leave their comfort zone for "All the tea in China".

Taking that into account I think that Yannis has made a rash offer when he stated that he will bet his last penny regarding someone moving their backside and travelling to the Ukraine, even if they did fall for a lady from anywhere in the FSU.

I am in a different boat. 2 of Lena's best friend can certainly use a good man, but I know none in my friends circle who are single & available.

`Ya want to borrow some of my single friends?

Depends. Do you have any friends 30-45 , who want to date a beautiful woman (absolutely gorgeous) but who is also a terrible flirt to other men (so jealous types are not a good idea).

Nope most of my friends are in the 50-60 year old bracket. I bet they're too stuck in
their ways to travel over there anyway.

Then be quick, take wiz up on his offer.

and make a killing.

Since we can't even get a visa for Tanya's son to come and visit us..
She doesn't have a chance for it!

I offered a letter with a full boat sponsorship for all his expenses to the consulate but it wasn't good enough..

Getting a visitor/tourist type visa is very hard, It'd be alot easier to sneak in from Mexico or Canada.. They do it all the time.

If he wanted to immigrate legally we could have had him here easily.. BUT we just wanted him to visit so it's harder... Go figure?!?

Regarding visitor visas for the USA.
I have very little knowledge about the requirements for visitor visa for the USA, but, I do know that there is such a thing (as visitor visa for the USA).
I know the requirements for a visa for the UK and the main issue is proving that there are compelling reasons to return such as:
Proof of owning property.
Proof of employment.
Proof of a salary going into a bank.
A minimum of six months bank statements.
Proof that having been granted a holiday for the duration of the visit (a letter from an employer on headed paper).
Proof of a savings account with enough money to support oneself during the visit.
A letter of invitation from the person that will be visited stating the relationship and the availability of accommodation.
Now I am guessing that the US requirements would be similar.
Yes I did say guessing.
There is a company in the USA that is affiliated to Real Russia (a company that I use extensively because of the quality of service that they provide) in the UK now I am guessing again, but, Real Russia (the UK company) also have offices in Russia and they are involved among other things in obtaining visas for Russians to visit the UK.
Yes I do realise that Tanya is from the Ukraine and therefore Tanya's son is Ukrainian and that I am pointing you towards solutions for Russians visiting the UK but as far as the options go I do not think that there are major differences.
The company in the USA that is affiliated with Real Russia is Russia-Visa they do have a customer service so it might be worth asking them if they can help with your particular situation, they may know of a company in the Ukraine that can help in obtaining a USA visitor visa.

Another option would be for Tanya's son to try the free assessment provided by Migration Expert Free US VISA Eligility Assessment I am quite sure that the questions that will be asked wll provide a good guide-line for the requirements to obtain a visa.

Finally, if "I am teaching my grandmother to suck eggs" I apologise in advance.

We had very good compelling reasons for his timely safe return. His wife, son and job as well as a rented apt.

The interview took less than 2 minutes because I filled out the forms online. So they had a printout of it to read out before I got done printing on my end. (Big Brother is watching) They didn't even look at any of the supporting documents!

There was a pile of paperwork about 3/4" thick to make sure we had all the ducks in order!! Some of my family had visited there and met them a year ago and expressed their wishes to show the same hospitality here as they were shown when they visited them.

But none of that was looked at.