River, southwestern Russia and eastern Ukraine.
Rising in the Central Russian Upland, it winds south and east through Russia and Ukraine for some 650 mi (1,050 km) to join the Don River below Konstantinovsk. It flows along the northern Donets Basin industrial region, which uses it for heavy shipping and also causes severe pollution problems. A water shortage in the river and industrial area led to the construction in the 1970s of a canal connecting the Dnieper to the Donets. Six weirs make navigation possible upstream to the city of Donetsk .