ThePripyat orPrypiat[a] is a river inEastern Europe. The river, which is approximately 761 km (473 mi) long,[1] flows east throughUkraine,Belarus, and into Ukraine again, before draining into theDnieper atKyiv Reservoir.
Max Vasmer notes in his etymological dictionary that the historical name of the river mentioned in the earliest East Slavic document, thePrimary Chronicle, isPripet' (Припеть), and cites the opinion of other linguists that the name meant "tributary", comparing with Greek and Latin roots. He also rejects some opinions which were improperly based on the stem-пять-pjat', rather than original-петь.[2]
The name may also derive from the local wordpripech used for a river with sandy banks.[3]
The Pripyat begins in theVolhynian Upland, between the villages ofBudniki [uk] andRohivi Smoliary [uk] inVolyn Oblast, Ukraine. 204 km downstream, it crosses the border ofBelarus, where it travels 500 km throughPolesia, Europe's largest wilderness, within which lie the vast sandy wetlands known as thePripet Marshes, a dense network of swamps, bogs, rivers and rivulets within a forested basin. For the last 50 kilometers the Pripyat flows again in Ukraine and flows several kilometers south ofChernobyl into the Kyiv Reservoir.[4][5]
The length of the river is 775 km, and the area of the watershed is 114,300 km2.[6] The width of thefloodplain varies from 4 to 15 km over the course of the river, with occasional flooding reaching 30 km.[7][8] 495 km (308 mi) of the whole river length lies withinBelarus, with the rest in Ukraine.[1]
Dredging of the river started in 2020 to enable theE40 waterway to pass through the area. The dredging raised concerns about radioactive contamination around theChernobyl nuclear power plant, as the river comes within 2.5 km (1.6 mi) of the nuclear reactor.[12]
Pripyat // Dictionary of Contemporary Geographical Names / Rus. geogr. oh Moscow center; By common. Ed. acad. V. M. Kotlyakova. Institute of Geography, Russian Academy of Sciences. - Yekaterinburg: U-Factorium, 2006.
Joint River Management Program. Final Report: River Pripyat Basin (February 2004)
^Vasilievich, Kozulin Alexander; Sergeevna, Beliatskaya Olga (8 November 2016)."Belarus Mid-Pripyat State Landscape Zakaznik"(PDF).Ramsar: The Convention on Wetlands. Minsk, Belarus: Ramsar Sites Information Service. Retrieved2 April 2025.
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