Pripyat or Prypiat (/ˈpriːpjət,_ˈprɪp-/ ; Ukrainian: Pryp"jat', ; Russian: Prípjat') is a ghost city in northern Ukraine, near the Ukraine–Belarus border. Named after the nearby Pripyat River, the city was founded on February 4, 1970, as the ninth nuclear city (a type of closed city) in the Soviet Union, to serve the nearby Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant. It was officially proclaimed a city in 1979 and had grown to a population of 49,360 by the time it was evacuated on the afternoon of April 27, 1986, the day after the Chernobyl disaster. Although Pripyat is located within the administrative district of Ivankiv Raion, the abandoned municipality now has the status of city of oblast significance within the larger Kiev Oblast (province) and is administered directly from Kiev. Pripyat is also supervised by Ukraine's Ministry of Emergencies, which manages activities for the entire Chernobyl Exclusion Zone.
