The Ulya is a river in Ayano-Maysky and Okhotsky districts, Khabarovsk Krai in Russia. The length of the river is 325 km, the area of its drainage basin is 15500 km2. The first Russian to reach the Pacific Ocean was Ivan Moskvitin who sailed down the Ulya and wintered near its mouth in 1639. Vasili Poyarkov reused his huts in 1646. The Ulya was one of the water routes to and from Okhotsk. From its tributaries either the Lama Portage or the Alachak Portage led to the Mati River which flows north to the Maya, which leads to the Aldan and then the Lena to Yakutsk.

Course

The Ulya originates in the Dzhugdzhur Mountains, flows northeast parallel to the coast and turns east to reach the Sea of Okhotsk about 100 km southwest of Okhotsk. It freezes up in late October through early November and remains icebound until May.