Attractions of Novoazovsk

The National Natural Park "Meotida" is located in the south of the Donetsk region, covering a two-kilometer coastal zone of the Sea of Azov for 150 kilometers.

The reserve was created in 2000. It received the name of the ancient country of the Meotids, a tribe of Meots who lived in the 1st millennium BC in the Azov region. The area of the park is 13 thousand hectares of territory and the same amount of water area.

The park "Meotida" includes the nature reserves of national importance "Bilosarayska Kosa" and "Pryazovsky Chapelnyk", the ornithological reserve of local importance "Kryvokosky estuary", natural monuments of local importance "Kryva Kosa" and "Pine crops", as well as the regional landscape park "Polovtsian Steppe".

More than 250 species of birds (including curly pelicans) and 47 species of mammals have been registered on the territory of the reserve, some of them are listed in the Red Book. The flora of the park has preserved the aboriginal features of the steppe vegetation, which includes 640 species, including more than 40 endemic ones.

In 2001, Meotida Park was accepted into the international organization "Federation of Europarks".

RUSSIAN-UKRAINIAN WAR

Russian armed aggression against Ukraine has led to serious environmental consequences, including on the territory of the Meotida National Nature Park, which was damaged during the fighting. Some objects of the nature reserve fund of the reserve have been damaged or destroyed by shelling. Currently, the territory of the Meotida Park is occupied by Russian invaders.