Desna (Russian and Ukrainian: Десна) is a river in Russia and Ukraine, left tributary of the Dnieper. The word means "right hand" in the Old East Slavic language. Its length is 1,130 km (702 mi), and its drainage basin covers 88,900 km2 (34,324 sq mi).
In Ukraine, the river's width ranges from 60 to 250 meters, with its average depth being 3 m (10 ft). The mean annual discharge at its mouth is 360 m³/s (12,713 ft³/s). The river freezes over from early December to early April, and is navigable from Novhorod-Siverskyi to its mouth, which totals about 535 km (332 mi).
Famous quotes containing the word river:
“Sitting in that dusky wilderness, under that dark mountain, by the bright river which was full of reflected light, still I heard the wood thrush sing, as if no higher civilization could be attained. By this time the night was upon us.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)