Petrykaw

Petrykaw (Petrikov, Pyetrykaw), population around 10,000, sits on the left bank of the Pripyat River in southern Homielskaja voblasć, about 89 km west of Mazyr and 190 km west of Gomel. It is first recorded in 1523, when it belonged to the Olelkovich princes of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania; Prince Yuri Olelkovich built a wooden castle on the riverbank that was destroyed in the Lithuanian-Muscovite war of 1534–1537. The town passed to the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in 1569 and was annexed by the Russian Empire in 1793 after the second partition of Poland. It gained town status in the 20th century and was retaken from German occupation on 30 June 1944 during Operation Bagration, at heavy Soviet cost. Like much of the region, the district was affected by the 1986 Chernobyl fallout. Today Petrykaw is a modest river town whose economy includes river-barge construction, brick manufacturing, and a bread factory, with a ferry still crossing the Pripyat to the south bank.

• Petrykaw Regional Museum of Local Lore — Exhibits covering the district's history from the Stone Age to the present.
• Pripyat riverfront — The riverbank where the local ferry crosses the Pripyat to the south side; a quiet vantage point over the river and floodplain.

• Kalinkavichy (40 km north) — Railway town
• Mazyr (50 km east) — Oil refining
• Zhitkovichi (60 km west) — Small marshland town