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.

Pripyat Prypiat, Prypiać, Prypeć
Pripyat River
Course of the Pripyat River
Location
Country	Ukraine,Belarus
Physical characteristics
Source
• location	Volyn Oblast,Ukraine
• coordinates	51°20′00″N23°47′26″E / 51.3333°N 23.7905°E /51.3333; 23.7905
Mouth	Dnieper
• location	Kyiv Reservoir
• coordinates	51°09′31″N30°29′27″E / 51.15861°N 30.49083°E /51.15861; 30.49083
Length	761 km (473 mi)
Basin size	121,000 km2 (47,000 sq mi)
Discharge
• average	377 m3/s (13,300 cu ft/s)
Basin features
Progression	Dnieper→Dnieper–Bug estuary→Black Sea
Tributaries
• left	Pina,Yaselda,Tsna,Lan,Sluch,Ptsich,Brahinka
• right	Turiya,Stokhid,Styr,Horyn,Stsviha,Ubort,Zhelon,Slovechna,Uzh

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]

The Pripyat is navigable up toPinsk, where theDnieper-Bug Canal leads to theBug River.^[6]

The Pripyat passes through theexclusion zone established around the site of theChernobyl nuclear disaster. The nearby city ofPripyat, Ukraine (population 45,000), which was named after the river, was completely evacuated after theChernobyl disaster.^[9]

The Pripyat is known for its numerousoxbow lakes and channels.^[10][11]

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]

• Dnieper–Bug Canal

• Припять,Great Soviet Encyclopedia
• 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)

• (in Russian, English and Polish) Ye.N.Meshechko, A.A.Gorbatsky (2005)Belarusian Polesye: Tourist Transeuropean Water Mains, Minsk,Four Quarters,
• (in Belarusian, Russian and English) T.A.Khvagina (2005)POLESYE from the Bug to the Ubort, MinskVysheysha shkola,ISBN 985-06-1153-7.

  Media related toPripyat River at Wikimedia Commons

• Pripyat: Radioactive pollution, 2003