a tributary of the Danube River, now forming the boundary of Romania with Moldova. Prior to 1940 and the taking of Bessarabia by the Soviet Union, the Prut was almost entirely in Romania. It rises on the northeastern slopes of the Eastern Carpathians in southwestern Ukraine and flows 530 miles (850 km) north, then east past Kolomyya and Chernovky, and finally south-southeast. The Prut receives water from several tributaries off the Eastern Carpathians and the Moldavian Basin. It empties into the Danube east of Galaţi, Romania.