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The Kuma is a river on the Black Sea-Caspian Steppe of southern Russia. It flows northeast into the Caspian Sea. It is 802 kilometres long, and has a drainage basin of 33,500 square kilometres. Its source is in the Greater Caucasus, in the republic Karachay-Cherkessia, west of Kislovodsk. It flows in northeastern direction, through Stavropol Krai and further east through the Caspian Depression as the natural border between Kalmykia and Dagestan. That part of the Kuma's valley forms the eastern part of the Kuma–Manych Depression, separating the East European Plain from the Caucasus region. The Kuma flows into the Kizlyar Gulf of the Caspian Sea near the border between Dagestan and Kalmykia.
Most of the rivers that flow north from the Caucasus Mountains and into Terek–Kuma Lowland are caught by the Kuban and Terek. It rises between the basins of those two rivers so the Kuma is mainly a steppe river. It is much used for irrigation.