The Chilia branch (; ) is one of three main distributary channels of the river

Danube The Danube ( ; see also #Names and etymology, other names) is the List of rivers of Europe#Longest rivers, second-longest river in Europe, after the Volga in Russia. It flows through Central and Southeastern Europe, from the Black Forest sou ...

that contribute to forming the

Danube Delta The Danube Delta (, ; , ) is the second largest river delta in Europe, after the Volga Delta, and is the best preserved on the continent. Occurring where the Danube, Danube River empties into the Black Sea, most of the Danube Delta lies in Romania ...

. Lying at the northernmost area of the delta, the distributary creates a natural border between

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

and

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

(see Romania-Ukraine border) and is named after the two towns carrying the same name, located across from one another on both banks:

Kiliya Kiliia or Kilia (, ; ; ) is a city in Izmail Raion, Odesa Oblast, southwestern Ukraine. It hosts the administration of Kiliia urban hromada, one of the hromadas of Ukraine. Kiliia is located in the Danube Delta, in the historic Bessarabian dist ...

, on the northern, Ukrainian bank and Chilia Veche (Old Chilia) on the southern, Romanian bank. The other two main branches of the Danube are the

Sulina branch The Sulina branch is a distributary of the river Danube that contributes to forming the Danube Delta. The other two main branches of the Danube are the Chilia branch to the north and the Sfântu Gheorghe branch to the south. The Sulina bra ...

and the Sfântu Gheorghe branch. The Chilia branch begins at the Ismail Islet where Danube splits on Chilia branch and Sulina branch and ends near the town of Vylkove where Chilia branch splits further into Ochakove distributary (eastward) and Old Istambul distributary (southward). Chilia branch is long. The flow at the entrance into the delta is of 6,350 m³/s; the Chilia branch carries between 58 and 60 percent of this flow. Along the Chilia branch is located the former Ottoman fortress in today's Ukrainian city of

Izmail Izmail (, ; ; , or ; ) is a List of cities in Ukraine, city and List of hromadas of Ukraine, municipality on the Danube river in Odesa Oblast in south-western Ukraine. It serves as the administrative center of Izmail Raion, one of seven distr ...

. The fall of Izmail in 1789 led the Ottomans' loss of complete control over the northern Pontic shores (today southern Ukraine) and to the expansion the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...

to this part of the

Black Sea The Black Sea is a marginal sea, marginal Mediterranean sea (oceanography), mediterranean sea lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bound ...

, with the continuation of struggles and warring between the Ottoman and Russian Empires.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chilia Branch Distributaries of the Danube Ramsar sites in Ukraine Romania–Ukraine border Rivers of Tulcea County