In our fabled land of Olympia, the Dnieper River, at 1,367 miles (2,200 km) in length, is exceeded only by the Volga (2,200 mi/3,520 km) and Danube (1,767 mi/2,850 km). The Dnieper falls wholly within our geocultural province of Slavia. It starts 720 feet (220 m) above sea level in a peat bog in the Valdai Hills 3 miles (5 km) northwest of the rural village of Bocharovo (Russia) and 150 miles (240 km) northwest of Moscow. In its long journey, it flows roughly south through the cities listed below until it empties into the Black Sea.
South 74 miles (120 km) from Bocharovo to Vyasma (Russia),
West 104 miles (168 km) from Vyasma to Smolensk,
West 82 miles (132 km) from Smolensk (Russia) to Orsha (Belarus),
Southeast 306 miles (493 km) from Kiev to Dnipro,
South 66 miles (106 km) from Dnipro to Zaporizhzhia,
Southwest 19 miles (30 km) from Kherson to the Black Sea.
Total by road: 1169 miles (1,886 km) from Bocharovo to the Black Sea.
The Pripet River flows east 480 miles (773 km) from its source to its intersection with the Dnieper River in the Kiev Reservoir immediately southwest of the deserted city of Chernobyl. Much of its journey is through the legendary Pripet Marshes—a wetlands 300 miles (483 km) long and 140 miles (225 km) wide.
