It seems to me that you dwell too much on the negative and that that eclipses everything positive. Yes, there is a large divide between the rich and the poor in Kiev, but you cannot forget that Ukraine has had a difficult history and that people have gone through some tough times, thus you can't really blame some of them for being 'surly'. However, this has started to become slightly less evident each year and the people (especially in the more expensive shops, retaurants) are in fact very nice and helpful. You must have been quite unlucky in your shopping!

The monaseries are beautiful, the parks are incredible and unmatched by anything I have seen in Europe so far and the city is just steeped in history. The hills make for incredible views across the city. The subway is the best in the world: the stations are very clean and are like palaces and the trains run efficiently every 1 minute! You can walk down the street at nightime and feel safe, unlike many other cities, even London which I live in. There are sandy beaches/attraction park in the middile of the city which feels like a holiday resort, how many eastern European cities can boast of that?

As for tourism, I agree that the western market is not catered for, but with the approaching EuroCup (or something big to do with football, I don't know) much more effort is being put in to tourism to make the city more accessible. And just because there are 'babushkas', 'haggling taxi drivers' and the odd 'surly' experience, that should in no way turn your attention away from the beauty because the aforementioned are to be expected in every big city.

You can look at any city in the way you looked at Kiev (ignoring all the goodness), I mean, even in New York, the poverty, the underground, the rough areas are as bad, if not worse than those of Kiev!
I live in the UK but I own a nice apartment in Kiev with incredible views and I love the city! I'm attached to the Kiev by a sort of melancholy nostalgia and I wouldn't trade that for anything.

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