The Samara River. Who Is Harming a Tributary of the Dnipro?

The Samara River, one of the largest tributaries of the mighty Dnipro, begins near the village of Mariivka in the Kramatorsk district of the Donetsk region. It covers a distance of 311 kilometres across three regions. From the Donetsk Ridge, this water artery of eastern Ukraine heads north-west to the Blyzniuky district of the Kharkiv region. Then it runs south-west and flows through the Dnipropetrovsk region, forming in its winding bed a multitude of lakes and oxbows.

 

The Samara River near the village of Dmytrivka, Dnipropetrovsk region

Ivanhrad. The Labyrinths of the Gypsum Adits

Ivanhrad is not a town but a small village with a single unnamed street, two kilometres from Bakhmut. The toponym comes from the name of the miller Ivan, to whose mill people came from all around on carts laden with grain. The huge hill on the south-eastern side of Ivanhrad is one of the worked-out gypsum mines of Bakhmut. The other lies within the city limits; a former alabaster mine houses the Artemivsk Sparkling Wine Factory.

 

Ivanhrad, Donetsk region. The abandoned gypsum adits

Ivanivske. The Manor Bathhouse. Cultural Heritage in Ruins

In a dense forest — neither beyond thrice-nine lands, nor in a thrice-tenth kingdom, but on the outskirts of the village of Ivanivske in the Bakhmut district — a wondrous wonder has been discovered.