Government officials have lobbied for approval of the project. While the competent authorities continued to present the Svydovets resort as a government initiative, the billion-dollar plan was in fact designed as a gigantic expansion of the privat Bukovel ski resort. The construction of a large-scale infrastructure in the undisturbed mountain area of Svydovets threatened the whole ecosystem and the hydrological systems throughout the wider region. The legal problems of the promoters of the controversial Svydovets ski resort raised the question if they are trustworthy and reliable partners for a large-scale project that implies the privatization of 1430 hectares of state lands. In June 2019 the report ‘Svydovets Case: How oligarchs are planning to destroy one of Ukraine’s most pristine natural landscapes‘ was presented in Kyiv. This report described the issue of the mega ski resort construction. In November 2019, The New York Times reported that the disgraced oligarch Kolomoisky was behind the "bizarre ski resort plan". Geography Svydovets hosts one of the ten units of the Primeval Beech Forests of the Carpathians, recognised as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2007. The higher peaks include: Blysnyzi (Близниці - 1883 meters) Tataruka (Татарука - 1774 meters) Dohjaska (Догяска - 1764 meters) Unharjaska (Унгаряска - 1707 meters) See also Divisions of the Carpathians Ukrainian Carpathians Wooded Carpathians Polonynian Beskids Polonyna (montane meadow) References Sources External links Carpathian Mountains: Division (map) Environmental justice organizations Free Svydovets - https://freesvydovets.org/en/ European Wilderness Society - https://wilderness-society.org/ Bruno Manser Fonds - http://www.bmf.ch/waldkarpaten/en/ European Civic Forum - http://civic-forum.eu/ WWF Global - http://wwf.panda.org/?325650/Petition-to-save-Svydovets-massif-in-Ukraine-initiated Mountain ranges of Ukraine Mountain ranges of the Eastern Carpathians Primeval Beech Forests in Europe