From Criminal Police to Pools and Chalets: The Kovals Family Built an Elite Resort in the Carpathians

Former First Deputy Head of the National Police Yevhen Koval found himself in the spotlight after his career in law enforcement due to the family assets in the Carpathians.

This is written by "Vykryvach".

In Pylypets, Zakarpattia, operates Shypit SPA & Resort—a hotel-and-restaurant complex with a SPA, pools, three restaurants, a cinema, a promenade, and 14 a chalet.

The land under the complex previously belonged to Koval’s father — Oleksandr Koval. As early as 2019, journalists reported that in Pylypets an area of about 2,5 hectares had been registered for him, where a large-scale construction was underway. In total, the Koval family owned about 8 hectares in Zakarpattia, which journalists estimated at roughly 30 million UAH.

Active construction coincided with the ascendant period of Yevhen Koval’s career in the National Police — initially as head of the Internal Security Department, and later as First Deputy Head of the agency.

Bihus.Info journalists at one point drew attention to the fact that the official incomes of Koval’s parents, by their estimates, were insufficient to fund construction of such scale. Koval himself stated that his family’s business was not connected to his service.

After Oleksandr Koval’s death, the land and real estate passed to his wife. In December 2024, Shypit SPA & Resort officially opened on this territory.

At the same time, there are no documentary grounds to call Yevhen Koval the personal owner of the complex. It concerns assets connected with his family.

Thus, questions remain about the origin of funds for land acquisition and multi-year construction, and about who actually financed and receives profits from the resort business.