The Dnieper River flows from Russia, through Belarus and the Ukraine, to the Black Sea. Its total length is 2,285 km, of which 485 km lie within Russia, 595 km within Belarus, and 1,095 km within the Ukraine. Its basin covers 504,000 sq. km, of which the majority (289,000 sq. km) are within the Ukraine. The Dnieper rises at an altitude of about 720 feet (220 metres) in a small peat bog on the southern slope of the Valdai Hills of Russia, about 150 miles west of Moscow, and flows in a generally southerly direction through western Russia, Belarus, and Ukraine to the Black Sea. For the first 300 miles, it passes through the Smolensk oblast (province) of Russia, first to the south and then to the west; near Orsha it turns south once more and for the next 370 miles flows through Belarus. Finally, it flows through Ukrainian territory: south to Kiev, southeast from Kiev to Dnipropetrovsk, and then south-southwest to the Black Sea. The Dnieper watershed includes the Volyn-Podilsk Upland, the Belarusian Ridge, the Valdai Hills, the Central Russian Upland, and the Smolensk-Moscow Upland. The centre of the basin consists of broad lowlands. Within the forest area and to some extent within the forest steppe area, the basin is covered with morainic and fluvioglacial deposits; on the steppe it is covered with loess. In some places, where the basin borders upon the basins of the Bug and the Western Dvina rivers, there is a flat swampy area. This facilitated the cutting of connecting water routes from the Dnieper to neighbouring rivers even in ancient times. At the end of the 18th century and the beginning of the 19th, the Dnieper was connected to the Baltic Sea by several canals: the Dnieper–Bug Canal, running by way of the Pripet, Bug, and Vistula rivers; the Ahinski Canal by way of the Pripet and the Neman; and the Byarezina water system by way of the Byarezina and the Western Dvina. These canals later became obsolete. The Dnieper River (Russian: Днепр, Dnepr; Belarusian: Дняпро, Dniapro, IPA: [dnʲaˈpro]; Ukrainian: Днiпро, Dnipro, IPA: [dnʲiˈpro]; Crimean Tatar: Özü) is one of the major rivers in Europe (fourth by length) that flows from Russia, through Belarus and Ukraine, to the Black Sea. Its total length is 2,285 kilometres (1,420 mi), of which 485 km (301 mi) lie within Russia, 595 km (370 mi) within Belarus, and 1,095 km (680 mi) within Ukraine. Its basin covers 504,000 square kilometres (195,000 sq mi), of which 289,000 km2 (112,000 sq mi) are within Ukraine.
The Dnieper is important for the transport and economy of Ukraine: its reservoirs have large ship locks, allowing vessels of up to 270 by 18 metres (890 ft × 59 ft) to access as far as the port of Kiev and thus create an important transport corridor. The river is used by passenger vessels as well. Inland cruises on the rivers Danube and Dnieper have been a growing market in recent decades. Upstream from Kiev, the Dnieper receives the water of the Pripyat River. This navigable river connects to the Dnieper-Bug canal, the link with the Western Bug river. Historically, a connection with the Western European waterways was possible, but a weir without a ship lock near the town of Brest has interrupted this international waterway. Poor political relations between Western Europe and Belarus mean there is little likelihood of re-opening this waterway in the near future. Navigation is interrupted each year by the winter freezing, and severe winter storms. Dnieper River (Dnipro; Βορυσθένης [Borysthenes] in ancient Greek; Danapris in Latin of the 4th century). (See map: Dnieper River.) The largest river in Ukraine and the third largest in Europe (after the Volga River and the Danube River). From the dawn of history the Dnieper has been closely bound up with the life of the Ukrainian people. It is the ‘holy river’ of Ukraine. Its length is 2,285 km, of which 485 km lie within the Russian Federation, 595 km within Belarus, and 1,095 km within Ukraine. The Dnieper Basin covers 504,000 sq km, of which 289,000 sq km are within Ukraine (48 percent of its area). The basin occupies 42 percent of the territory of the Ukrainian state and 36 percent of Ukrainian ethnic territory. The Dnieper flows south through the center of Ukraine and bisects its natural zones—forest, forest-steppe, and steppe—interconnecting them and connecting them with the Black Sea. Of the long-settled principal areas of Ukraine, only Galicia, western Volhynia, and Transcarpathia lie beyond the basin of the Dnieper. Travel is easy from the Dnieper Basin to basins northwest of it —the Vistula River, the Neman River, and the Daugava River—but difficult to other basins, such as the basins of the Dniester River, the Boh River, the Volga River, and the Don River. Easy communications between the Dnieper River, the Prypiat River, and the Buh River by means of the Vistula facilitated the expansion of Poland into Ukraine. The Dnieper's role as a unifying force and gateway to the sea was, however, weakened by a 70 km stretch of rapids in the steppe belt. In spite of this obstacle, the Dnieper was the main axis of the first Ukrainian state—Kyivan Rus'. The nucleus of a second state—the Zaporozhian Sich—arose on the Dnieper. The river is the artery of Ukraine, its main highway, and its source of hydroelectric power.
Like its big sister the Volga, the Dnieper (Dnipro in Ukrainian) rises in a swampy district at the foot of the Valdai hills to the northwest of Moscow. With a length of 2,200 km (1,367 miles), it is the third-longest river in Europe. It traces two huge loops through Byelorussia and the Ukraine before entering the Black Sea by a wide estuary with the town of Kherson on its right bank. In the 8th to 11th centuries, Vikings (or Varangians) from Scandinavia invaded and settled parts of Ukraine and Russia. They established the first trading posts on the river to provide access to the markets of the Orient. Consequently the great river became known as the Varangian highway to Greece, or more attractively, the “amber route”. In the years following Russia’s October Revolution, the course of the Dnieper was much modified. Five dams were constructed, turning the river into a virtually continuous chain of lakes which provided irrigation for new agricultural lands and power for new hydroelectric stations. But the history of the Ukraine and the Dnieper is also closely linked to that of the Cossacks, who defended the independence of their country against the Turks, the Poles and even the tsars from their stronghold on an island close to Zaporozhye. River cruises begin at Kiev, “the mother of Russian cities”. You will pass through vast forests and steppes and a rich agricultural region: the Ukraine once known as the granary of the Soviet Union. Along the way, historic sites and modern industrial complexes will slide by before you reach Yalta and Odessa, legendary towns on the shores of the Black Sea. Most Dnieper River cruises start in Kiev, Ukraine's capital city, and visit the Monastery of the Caves. Founded by St. Anthony of the Caves in the mid-11th century, this religious complex was built above an underground network of tunnels and caves excavated by monks. On your Dnieper River cruise, you may also enjoy a folkloric performance in Nova Kachovka or a Cossack horseman show in Zaporozhye. Most Dnieper River cruises also sail to Yalta on the Crimean Peninsula where you can visit botanical gardens and tour the Tsar's Imperial winery at Massandra and the White Palace, which was built as a summer residence for Russian Tsars. Some Dnieper River cruises may be part of longer tour itineraries which include hotel stays. When packaged this way, our Dnieper River cruises save you up to 40% off the price of traveling the same itinerary on your own. That's because tour operators negotiate low group rates on everything from hotels to cabins on Dnieper River cruises, and pass the savings on. And that's not all. Our Dnieper River cruises are hassle-free because all the details are handled for you. They're easy to budget, as so much is included in one price. And, local guides with years of experience help you discover more sights in the Ukraine than you could possibly find on your own.
