Elite residential complex on the Uzh Riverbank and the cleansing of owners: what Riverville in Uzhhorod is hiding and what Petiovka and the family of the ex-head of the Constitutional Court have to do with it

Alongside ordinary clients at the sales offices are police officers, prosecutors and forensic experts. A scandal is unfolding in Uzhhorod around an elite residential complex on the banks of the Uzh River.

This is reported by the publication "Telegraf"

While developers sell apartments with scenic terraces, law enforcement is checking whether the construction is linked to violations. A court has already allowed surveyors onto the construction site: it appears 11 eight-story buildings somehow managed to be "squeezed" into the regulatory 50-meter waterfront protection zone, and laboratory analyses of the water beyond the fence of the elite new development recorded high concentrations of E. coli and fecal contamination.

City residents are outraged, the police are measuring meters to the water

While the completed and planned sections of the Riverville complex in the Bozdosh neighborhood on Mykola Bobyak Street in Uzhhorod are actively advertised as apartments for wealthy buyers, behind the glossy brochures a scandal is unfolding. The picturesque view of the Uzh River, which the developer turned into the main feature of its marketing, became one of the hooks in the criminal case.

Interestingly, the trigger for the investigation was a regular social media post. Police registered a criminal proceeding (No.12026071030000778) after monitoring Uzhhorod Facebook communities. Irritated residents published photos of construction equipment and leveled three main complaints against the developer.

First, people were outraged by the destruction of the recreational area of Bozdosh Park in favor of yet another set of "concrete monsters."

Second, anger was provoked by footage of excavators working practically in the water, tearing up the shoreline within the protective zone.

And third, Uzhhorod residents explicitly warned of the threat of a sewage collapse: the city’s treatment facilities are already operating at capacity, so where the tons of new sewage from the complex will go is a question.

Experts are to settle whether there were violations. By the ruling of the investigating judge of the Uzhhorod City District Court dated 12 August 2026 year (case No. 308/11624/26), law enforcement received authorization for an on-site inspection of the construction site. The surveyors’ task is to measure with centimeter accuracy the actual distance from the laid foundations to the water.

It will be difficult to hide violations, because, according to an official explanation from the State Water Agency, cited in the court document, the Uzh River is a medium river. That means the law strictly prohibits any construction within the regulatory 50-meter shoreline protection zone. If the complex’s capital structures are located closer to the low-water mark, that is a direct path to asset seizure and cancellation of DIAM permits.

The official facade: what the developer is permitted to do

While the police and experts gather evidence, the Riverville sales department is operating at full capacity. In promo materials and on the developer’s official site, this project is presented as nothing less than an architectural masterpiece and an ideal business-class space. Potential investors are promised a closed territory on the "car-free courtyard" concept, their own shopping center, a fine-dining restaurant, a spa salon, a kindergarten and a private school.

The main draw for buyers is supposed to be a private embankment with landscape design, fountains, art objects and zones for fishing and barbecues. The project initiators are so confident in the success of the project that the client—OK ZhBK "Sribna Dolyna"—even registered the exclusive trademark Riverville (protection document No. 380167 dated 25 February 2026 year).

Construction relies on a large set of documents available on the official website. From them it follows that the Riverville complex is designed on four adjacent plots totaling 5,25 ha. The land use designation is "for the construction of a multi-apartment building with trade and entertainment infrastructure." At the beginning of 2025 year the developer received an official construction permit from DIAM No. IY013250129412 for the highest consequence class—CC3.

According to the project documentation, a giant array of 11 sections with 261 apartments was to appear here. However, the company’s architectural ambitions were substantially trimmed during approvals. Initially, plans for a 16-storey quarter were discussed behind the scenes. But reality proved more prosaic: the urban planning conditions and restrictions (UPO No. 133/03-03/24), approved by the Uzhhorod City Council, set a strict ceiling—not higher than 8 floors (32,55 meters).

The reason for this "grounding" of the business is the strict requirements of the State Aviation Service of Ukraine. The construction site is located in the aerodrome zone of the Uzhhorod airfield, and taller structures or crane booms would create dangerous closure angles for aircraft navigation systems.

Questions are also raised about the internal infrastructure of the future business-class housing. For more than two hundred apartments and a sizable commercial area under a shopping center and restaurant, the developer planned an underground parking (area 3109,18 sq. m) for only 75 parking spaces. Where will the rest of the residents and guests leave their cars? When the "car-free courtyard" is enforced, Mykola Bobyak Street could turn into a continuous traffic jam.

Infrastructure dead end: tons of sewage to the Uzh River

The permitting documentation reveals another notable detail—11 sections of the Riverville complex will generate a considerable volume of waste—73,25 thousand cubic meters of wastewater per year. At the same time, this residential array is being built right up to a problematic municipal sewage outfall, which has long been an environmental ulcer of the Bozdosh neighborhood.

Confirmation of this was laboratory monitoring of the Uzh River’s water quality, the results of which were widely published by Uzhhorod media and analytical portals at the end of August 2026 year. Water samples near Mykola Bobyak and Zahorska streets showed not just exceedances of norms, but a critical concentration of lacto-positive E. coli (LPE) and even pathogenic salmonella. Chemical analysis found abnormal levels of ammonium and phosphates—a concrete marker that fecal masses are being discharged into the Uzh.

Under pressure from the facts, Uzhhorod City Council and the water utility were forced to admit: treatment facilities are operating at the limit and loaded at 80-85%. And for the new multi-story development in Bozdosh a separate sewer branch is critically necessary, funds for which are not available in the budget. In response, representatives of the developer told the media that they independently renewed the section of the collector running adjacent to the Riverville construction site.

However, as local activists insist, this does not solve the global problem of the additional volume of sewage that Uzhhorod treatment facilities will receive after the new development is commissioned. And most importantly, as noted by well-known Transcarpathian journalist Olena Mudra—the infrastructure dead end was no surprise to officials. During the development of the Detailed Plan of the Territory (DPT), materials of the Strategic Environmental Assessment for this site contained a warning: Uzhhorod’s sewage system is physically incapable of accepting new loads.

But the engineers’ and scientists’ warnings were simply ignored. Now elite square meters are being built at a rapid pace, and the city’s infrastructure is forced to suffer and chase the developers’ appetites retroactively—at the cost of the Uzh River’s condition, the safety of city residents and taxpayers’ money.

Legal fog: how the development scheme is arranged

Who could actually have encouraged officials to turn a blind eye to problematic issues—who, in the end, will reap profits from the sale of elite square meters in Uzhhorod’s prestigious district, and who is merely hiding in registries?

The first link is the landowners. When the environmental scandal around Riverville broke out, the son of People’s Deputy Vasyl Petiovka and the nephew of Viktor Baloha—Andriy Petiovka, with whom the project is associated—tried to publicly distance himself from it. He assured journalists that his family "simply transferred the plots for development" and does not intervene in the process or communication with the city council.

Perhaps, of course, Petiovka does not intervene directly, but the plot of 5,25 ha where construction is underway remains under legal control of both him and the family of the ex-head of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine, Andriy Stryzhak. However, not directly, but through private companies—LLC "Landstor", LLC "Stiora" and LLC "Agro-Rent."

Andriy Petiovka owns a share of 50% of the charter capital of LLC "Landstor" and 50% in LLC "Stiora". Previously, the judge’s son—Andriy Stryzhak—was listed as manager, signatory and beneficial owner of LLC "Landstor", and his wife Iryna headed LLC "Stiora" (manager until December 2024 year) and "Landstor" (manager until April 2021 year). Currently the shares in the companies belong to relatives: Anastasiia Megela (likely Stryzhak’s granddaughter), who owns 25% of LLC "Landstor" and 12,5% of LLC "Stiora", and Halyna Serhata (Transcarpathian media name her Stryzhak’s wife), who owns 12,5% of LLC "Stiora".

The second link is the Kyiv partners. The client of the Riverville construction, which registered the building rights (superficies) on all 5,25 ha and owns the property rights to the complex, is ZhBK "Sribna Dolyna".

The timeline of changes in the cooperative exposes the presence of Kyiv players in the project, and then their urgent evacuation—on the eve of the investigation.

The third link is Mukachevo–Kyiv development. All operational work, construction and marketing have been outsourced to the Avesta Group of companies. Kyiv resident Bohdan Marunchak (director of LLC "DK "Avesta Group") is the public face and seller of the elite apartments, while Mukachevo resident Ivan Okal (owner of the general contractor LLC "Avestabud") directly operates the equipment on site. They assume all risks of interaction with outraged residents and law enforcement while the influential alliance of owners profits from the construction.

What next? What development scenarios exist

The Riverville story demonstrates the typical Ukrainian clash between the law and an elite alliance. On one side are 5,25 hectares of Transcarpathian land apparently representing the interests of the deputy’s family and the former head of the Constitutional Court. On the other are the interests of a large city whose residents will suffer from worn-out sewage and a poisoned Uzh River choking on effluent.

But the main question society faces is: what will the consequences be if experts and the court officially confirm violations of the law during construction in the shoreline zone?

Currently the project is in an active phase, and the amount of investments already attracted is measured in billions of hryvnias. The developer is actively erecting the first phases of the complex while sales of housing continue. If law enforcement together with experts prove violations, the situation could reach a dead end. On one hand, the full or partial dismantling of an object of this scale would be an almost unprecedented step in Ukraine. On the other hand, prolonged judicial blocking of the site, if it comes to that, will automatically turn the complex into an unfinished construction.

In such a scenario the biggest hostages will be ordinary investors who have already put money into square meters. People risk ending up without money and without the promised housing for an indefinite period. At the same time, a compromise with the law to preserve billion-hryvnia capitals would mean an ecological crisis for Uzhhorod. The price is too high: on the scales will be either the owners’ and buyers’ investments, or the future of the region’s main river.