- The Pripyat is an east flowing river with a length of 480 mile (775km), that starts in Ukraine then crosses into Belarus where it runs parallel to the border before crossing back into Ukraine, where it joins the Dnieper.
- The Pripyat forms part of the E40 Waterway which is currently being dredged to enable vessels from the Baltic to reach the Black Sea.
Course
- It runs for 150 miles (204km) in Ukraine.
- Then after crossing the border, it runs for 310 miles (500km) in Belarus through the Pinsk Marshes until recrossing into the Ukraine.
- It then runs for 30 miles (50km) in Ukraine beside the city of Pripyat and the Chernobyl Nuclear Plant, before joining the Dnieper.
Pinsk Marshes
- The river Pripyat runs through the Pinsk Marshes, also known as the Pripet Marshes, which is an enormous region of wetlands along the river Pripyat.
- The marshes occupy the southern part of Belarus and the northwestern part of Ukraine and cover an area approximately 140 miles (225km) wide for 300 miles (480km).
- They stretch from Brest in Belarus to Kiev in Ukraine, where the Pripyat joins the river Dnieper.
Procopious
- The Marshes were mentioned by Procopius (500-560 CE) in the ‘Wars of Justinian’.
- They are noted for being virtually impassable to armies since the Byzantine era, up to and including WWI and WWII.
Pripyat river