The article deals with the questions connected with direct foreign investments in the Ukraine during the period 1991 - 2008. The main objective of the paper is to determine the connection between the increase in the Ukrainian economy, its strength and direction (measured according to the level of GDP) and the amount of the direct foreign investments (measured according to the net value of direct for- eign investments in the Ukrainian economy). An analysis of the flow of direct foreign investments within the republics of the former Soviet Union and some countries of Central and Eastern Europe has been carried out.