Bykivnia Forest () is an

urban forest Urban means "related to a city". In that sense, the term may refer to: * Urban area, geographical area distinct from rural areas * Urban culture, the culture of towns and cities Urban may also refer to: General * Urban (name), a list of peop ...

consisting mostly of pine trees (90%), and stretching on the eastern side of

Kyiv Kyiv, also Kiev, is the capital and most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city of Ukraine. Located in the north-central part of the country, it straddles both sides of the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2022, its population was 2, ...

from the National Park Zalissia in southern direction towards

Bortnychi Bortnychi () is a historic neighbourhood in the southern part of Kyiv Kyiv, also Kiev, is the capital and most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city of Ukraine. Located in the north-central part of the country, it straddles both sides o ...

, creating a

green belt A green belt or greenbelt is a policy, and land-use zone designation used in land-use planning to retain areas of largely undeveloped, wilderness, wild, or agricultural landscape, land surrounding or neighboring urban areas. Similar concepts ...

. It is primarily associated with the Memorial Park Bykivnia Graves, which is located within it. On 19th century maps, the western outskirts of Bykivnia Forest show that it once reached the

Dnieper The Dnieper or Dnepr ( ), also called Dnipro ( ), is one of the major transboundary rivers of Europe, rising in the Valdai Hills near Smolensk, Russia, before flowing through Belarus and Ukraine to the Black Sea. Approximately long, with ...

. It has since then lost almost half of its original area, as such as Lisovyi Masyv residential neighbourhoods were built in Kyiv during the 1970s. The forest has an area of . The forest contains a number of lakes and ponds, such as Lake Almazne, Lake Berizka, and ponds that once formed part of the fishery of a

Soviet farm A sovkhoz ( rus, совхо́з, p=sɐfˈxos, a=ru-sovkhoz.ogg, abbreviated from , ''sovetskoye khozyaystvo''; ) was a form of state-owned farm or agricultural enterprise in the Soviet Union. It is usually contrasted with kolkhoz, which is a ...

, a flooded sand quarry. Through the forest flow rivers Darnytsia and Prirva. A portion of the woodland also contains some peat fields.Биківнянський ліс: найзагадковіші і найкрасивіші куточки!
www.vezdehod-tour.com.ua Within the forest, there is a bird farm. On the edge of the forest are located one of the Kyiv's combined heat and power station and Darnytsia Industrial Park that includes an abandoned chemical factory, railcar repair factory, and an armoured tank factory.

References

Geography of Kyiv Tourist attractions in Kyiv Forests of Ukraine {{KyivCity-geo-stub