Pripyat (Ukrainian: ?????'???, Pryp’yat’; Russian: ????????, Pripyat’) is an abandoned city in northern Ukraine, near the border with Belarus. Named for the nearby Pripyat River, Pripyat was founded on 4 February 1970, the ninth nuclear city in the Soviet Union, for the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant. It was officially proclaimed a city in 1979, and had grown to a population of 49,360 before being vacated a few days after the 26 April 1986 Chernobyl disaster.