Desna (river)


The Desna is a river in Russia and Ukraine, a major left tributary of the Dnieper. The word means "right hand" in the Old East Slavic language. Its length is, and its drainage basin covers.
In Ukraine, the river's width ranges from, with its average depth being. The mean annual discharge at its mouth is. The river freezes over from early December to early April, and is navigable from Novhorod-Siverskyi to its mouth, which totals about.

Geography

Course

The Desna originates in the Smolensk Heights of Smolensk Oblast, Russia. The river's source lies in Yelninsky District, east-southeast from the city of Smolensk and not far from Yelnya in a forest near the village of Naleti. The Desna then flows south through a low and swampy valley toward the city of Bryansk, where the river's right bank rises.
After its confluence with the Seym near the Russian-Ukrainian border, the river then widens, splitting into numerous smaller branches. Its right bank declines again near the city of Chernihiv, and again near one of its tributaries, the Oster, where the Desna continues its course through a low, muddy plain until it finally reaches its mouth near Kiev at the Dnieper River.

Tributaries

The Desna has many tributaries. The most significant are, from source to mouth:
The Svensky Monastery is located at the confluence of the Desna and the Sven River.