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Borzhava (Polonyna Borzhava) is a mountain massif of the Polonyna Ridge (Polonynskyi khrebet) in the Ukrainian Carpathians in Zakarpattia Oblast, between the valleys of the Vicha, a tributary of the Latorytsia, and the Rika. It runs for about 50 km from Volovets to Mizhhiria, and most of the crest stands above the treeline: it is the longest polonyna in Zakarpattia, a high grassland almost entirely covered in blueberry. The red-marked Zakarpattia Tourist Trail follows the crest.
The highest summit is Stiy (Stij, Stoi), 1,681 m (5,515 ft), on a south-western spur, where the ruins of a Soviet radar station abandoned in 1995 still lie. Velykyi Verkh (1,598 m), the second highest, is the hub where the branches of the ridge meet and the most popular objective: walkers reach it in a day from Volovets, Pylypets or Podobovets. Below are the range's 27 peaks by height, the routes, water, weather and the rules that apply under martial law.
The massif lies in the north-east of Zakarpattia Oblast, mostly along the boundary between Mukachevo and Khust districts. The Vicha valley and the town of Volovets close it off to the north-west, the Rika valley and Mizhhiria to the south-east. The northern slopes drop in steep scarps to the Rypynka valley; the southern ones are longer and gentler. The Borzhava River, which shares the range's name, rises below Stiy and flows south to the Tisza.
The massif is about 50 km long, counting Polonyna Kuk and the Palenyi Hrun ridge at its south-eastern end (Polish geographers treat those separately and arrive at only 25 km), and 3–4 km wide, up to 10 km in places. From above it looks like a cross. From Velykyi Verkh one arm runs north-west to Plai and Temnatyk above Volovets and south-east towards Kuk; the other heads south-west to Stiy, beyond which the crest falls away abruptly.
The high point is Stiy (also spelled Stij or Stoi), 1,681 m. Some sources, including a treeline study by A. Baitsar and Polish Wikipedia, give 1,677 m. Stiy is not on the main crest but on the south-western spur, about 4 km of open ridge from Velykyi Verkh. Its north side has a glacial cirque and crags with plants from Ukraine's Red Data Book, among them Swiss stone pine; the beech old-growth forest on its western slopes is protected as the Rosishnyi reserve.
The second-highest summit is Velykyi Verkh, 1,598 m, topped by a geodetic survey tower and a flagpole. The rest of the main crest stays at 1,300–1,520 m. In the south-east it is crossed by the Pryslip footpath pass (938 m), marked by a stone cross; beyond it the ridge holds at 1,100–1,200 m and climbs again only on Kuk (1,361 m).
Heights are those on our peak pages; sources differ by a few metres. Mahura-Zhyde also appears as Zhyd-Mahura (1,518 m); Hemba is also given as 1,494 m and 1,497 m, and Plai anywhere from 1,323 to 1,350 m. The Ukrainian etymological dictionary links the name Hemba to Polish gęba, "lip" or "mouth".
The polonyny here are mostly not natural. Today the treeline runs at 900–1,200 m, but according to the geographer A. Baitsar's reconstruction, beech forest once reached 1,450–1,500 m: single stunted spruces still grow up to 1,500 m on the western slopes of Velykyi Verkh. Researchers describe these grasslands as post-forest meadows, and Borzhava was long used for seasonal sheep grazing.
Almost the entire polonyna is under dense blueberry. Locals, who call the berries yafyny, pick them from July to September; lingonberries ripen in autumn. In berry season pickers camp on the ridge, and some of the pitches near springs may be taken. On a clear day the crest looks out to Svydovets, the Chornohora, Pikui and Polonyna Runa, and Kuk adds the Gorgany, the Maramureș mountains and the Rodna range in Romania.
They are the remains of a Soviet air-defence radar post, the 51st separate radar company. Construction began in spring 1982 on the summit and, at the same time, in the Ivolove clearing (about 1,180 m), 4.5 km lower down, where a military camp with barracks was built. Access to the mountain was closed from July 1985. In 1986 three white radome domes were built over the radars on the summit.
It proved a poor site for radar: fog, snowfall, ice on the antennas and hurricane-force wind that tore the domes off their concrete bases. Duty on Stiy ended in October 1995, and the domes were taken apart at the end of 1999. Concrete foundations remain on the summit, with shards of white fibreglass scattered over the slopes. The ruins of the camp at Ivolove lie on the route from the village of Vovchyi via Zeneva to Stiy.
On Plai, above Volovets, a weather station (1,330 m) has operated since July 1968; in 1978 it became a snow and avalanche station. In 1969–1970 the dissident Viacheslav Chornovil worked here as an observer, commemorated by a sign unveiled in 2007. Lower down, on the path from Volovets, are the ruins of an old cheese dairy. Paragliders launch from Temnatyk and Hemba; Borzhava is called the heart of Ukrainian paragliding.
No. The Borzhava narrow-gauge railway (750 mm gauge, 123 km) was built along the Borzhava River valley, not through the mountains. It opened in December 1908 to carry timber down to the lowland. Forest branches from Kushnytsia reached under the range, to the Kurtatska tract below Stiy, to the Pryslip pass and to Polonyna Kuk, but they were dismantled between the 1970s and 1990 as timber moved to trucks. The upper main line to Kushnytsia was taken up in the 2000s and 2010s. Before the full-scale invasion only the Vynohradiv–Khmilnyk section still carried passengers, and there has been no regular passenger service since 2022.
As of 2024 the courts have stopped the project. In 2017 the Turkish-owned company Atlas Volovets Energy began preparing a 120 MW wind farm: 34 turbines about 150 m tall, with mountain roads along the ridge. Activists opposed it, Borzhava being an Emerald Network site, and in 2019 the Bern Convention Bureau recommended suspending the project. On 24 April 2024 Ukraine's Supreme Court upheld the cancellation of the construction permit with no further appeal, and in July 2024 the Western Commercial Court of Appeal annulled the lease of 42 ha of the polonyna for the wind farm.
The gateway is Volovets, a station on the Lviv–Mukachevo line served by trains from Lviv, Kyiv and Odesa to Mukachevo, Uzhhorod and Chop. Minibuses and buses run from Volovets to Podobovets and Pylypets below Velykyi Verkh and Hemba. Mizhhiria serves the eastern end, Svaliava the south-west. From the south, Stiy is approached from the villages of Vovchyi and Bereznyky, and Mahura-Zhyde from Izky.
The red-marked Zakarpattia Tourist Trail follows the crest from Volovets over Temnatyk and Velykyi Verkh to the south-east and down to Mizhhiria. A separate yellow-marked path of about 9 km leads from Volovets to Stiy. The most common options (one way, with height gain):
The full traverse from Volovets to Mizhhiria over all the main summits is 45–53 km depending on the variant and usually takes 3–4 days; fit groups do it in 2–3. The routes are technically easy; the difficulty is distance and exposure. On the busy stretches around Hemba and Velykyi Verkh, 4x4s, quad bikes and motorcycles are common at weekends.
Pylypets is a ski resort: runs come down from Hemba and Mahura-Zhyde, snow usually lies from mid-December to April, and a chairlift climbs the slope of Hemba. The Shypit waterfall is 6 km from the village, on the Ploshanka stream below Hemba. It drops about 14 m and is at its fullest in spring, when the snow melts on Hemba. Since 1993 an informal festival has gathered by the falls in early July, timed to the Ivan Kupala midsummer night.
There are springs, but not everywhere. There is a strong spring near Mala Hymba (about 1,325 m) and another by the old cheese dairy below Plai, but you need to carry water for the stretch between Hemba and Stiy. Campers usually pitch near Mala Hymba, on the western slope of Velykyi Verkh and near Kaminna hill. Do not count on mobile signal; carry an offline map and leave your route with someone.
The main season runs from May to October: blueberries in July and August, and in September and October the polonyna turns yellow and rust-red. In winter Borzhava is for skiers and experienced hikers, and avalanches occur on Stiy.
The main hazard is the weather on the open crest. Strong wind is common even in summer, fog comes in fast, and snow can fall as late as May. In July 2021 lightning struck three hikers near Kruhla. In September 2026 two hikers who had camped on Stiy were caught in thick fog and rain and could not find the way down; rescuers from Pylypets brought them out. At the first sign of a thunderstorm, get off the crest and into the forest.
Yes. Borzhava is not in the border strip: the nearest state border is about 50 km away, and the strip where a Border Guard permit is required is up to 5 km wide. Nor is the ridge on the list of restricted hiking sections set by the Zakarpattia regional defence council, which covers stretches along the border. No permit is needed, but martial-law rules apply:
Border rules change, so check the current requirements with the Mukachevo Border Guard Detachment and the DSNS before you travel.