Land surrounding the Bukovel ski resort in the village of Polianytsia, Nadvirna District, has long been among the most expensive and desirable real estate assets in Ukraine. However, a recent attempt to privatize forest tracts through questionable legal schemes ended in a judicial defeat for its organizers: the Ivano-Frankivsk Court of Appeal upheld a ruling returning 20 land plots totaling 0.85 hectares to state ownership.
The scheme unfolded in the summer of 2022. The target was a plot featuring century-old Carpathian forest under the management of the Vorokhta Forestry Enterprise.
The withdrawal of the land from state ownership was executed using a classic gray-market scheme—based on a forged decision attributed to the Polianytsia Village Council, an act the local government body never actually adopted. The initial registered owner of the tract was Oleh Kravchuk, a native of the Rakhiv region whom Volyn media outlets identify as a criminal figure known by the nickname «Alenya.»
The organizers did not plan to hold the property under its initial registrant for long. Just seven days after registering the title, Kravchuk resold the entire plot to Volodymyr Naumchuk (reported by Volyn media to be his cousin) and Maksym Penkovskyi. The official contract price was a nominal 46,300 UAH.
According to independent investigative evaluations, the actual market value of land designated for this purpose in this location is at least 7.07 million UAH (over $170,000 USD). As a result, the state-owned land was documented at more than 150 times below its true market value.
Once in control of the tract, the new owners prepared it for development and potential resale to retail buyers. The 0.85-hectare parcel was subdivided into 20 separate land plots, reclassified in the official registers, and digitized for individual cottage construction.
Environmental prosecutors from the Prosecutor General’s Office intervened by filing a lawsuit to protect state interests.
Both the Yaremche District Court and subsequently the Ivano-Frankivsk Court of Appeal fully concurred with the prosecution’s arguments. The court recognized the initial documents as forged, invalidating all subsequent sales agreements and subdivision decisions.
The private ownership entries in the State Register of Property Rights have been canceled, and all 20 plots have been officially restored to the state forest fund under the management of the «Forests of Ukraine» State Enterprise.