Makivka (933 m a.s.l.) is a peak in the High Beskids that offers something rare on a mountain trail — a genuine fusion of natural beauty and deeply moving history. Sitting about 8 km north of Slavske in western Ukraine, it draws both hikers seeking Carpathian panoramas and visitors who come to pay their respects at one of Ukraine's most symbolic wartime sites.
The summit sits among the rolling, forested ridges typical of this part of the Carpathians. Views from the top stretch across wooded valleys and open highland meadows that change colour with the seasons — lush green in summer, a tapestry of gold and rust in autumn. The atmosphere on the summit is quietly solemn: a restored cemetery with 50 individual crosses marking the graves of Ukrainian Sich Riflemen stands as a constant reminder that this peaceful hilltop was once a fierce battlefield.
How to reach the summitDuring just a few days in late April and early May 1915, a outnumbered legion of Ukrainian Sich Riflemen held off Russian forces on these slopes — a stand that turned this modest 'little hill' into an enduring symbol of Ukrainian national spirit, drawing youth pilgrimages as early as the 1930s.