A court overturned the decision to rezone 20 plots of century-old forest near Bukovel for development
The Ivano-Frankivsk Court of Appeals upheld the ruling that the transfer of 20 plots of state-owned forest near Bukovel, in the village of Polianytsia—where trees approximately 100 years old grow—to private ownership was unlawful. The court upheld the decision of the Yaremcha City Court dated February 16, 2026, which granted the claim filed by environmental prosecutors to return the land—intended for cottage development—to state ownership.
The disputed forest area has been under the permanent use of the state forestry enterprise since 2001, and the authorized bodies had not issued a decision to seize it. Despite this, the territory was divided into plots and registered as private property on the basis of forged documents, and after a seizure order was issued, construction of vacation homes began there.
The courts rejected the defendants’ arguments that they were unaware of the forest’s existence, since trees over 30 meters tall grow on the territory. The process of canceling the illegal registration of the plots in the State Land Cadastre is currently underway, and a separate criminal case regarding the transfer of the land is pending in court.
This was reported by the Office of the Prosecutor General.
Previously, the appellate court overturned an illegal decision by the Bucha District Council, and the 3,000-hectare Bilychansky Forest was returned to the Kyiv community.
Also, after nearly five years of legal proceedings, a complex of historic buildings dating from 1830 to 1910, located in the historic part of Podil at the foot of Zamkova Hill, was returned to the Kyiv community.
