I've been recently interested in studying Ukrainian (mainly because I have nothing to do this summer but I won't say that), and I was wondering, just how DIFFERENT (not how similar) is Ukrainian to Russian? Is Ukrainian difficult? What about the noun cases? I've always been interested in Ukraine and always wanted to go to Kiev, so a bit of knowledge in Ukrainian wouldn't hurt!

So, what can you guys tell me, speaking Russian or at least having studied it, about the glorious language that is Ukrainian?