14 January 2026

On 14 January 2026, during the public part of the plenary session, the Second Senate deliberated the case upon the constitutional complaint of Eduard Dudkevych in the form of written proceedings.

During the plenary session, the Judge-Rapporteur in the case, Oleg Pervomayskiy, presented the content of the constitutional complaint and the applicant's arguments.

The subject of constitutional review in this case is paragraph 8 of the “Final Provisions” of Section of the Law of Ukraine “On the State Budget of Ukraine for 2023” No. 2710-IX  dated 3 November 2022 (hereinafter, the “Law”), which establishes, in particular, that “in 2023, Articles 42.2, 42.4.5, paragraph 13.1.3 of Section XV “Final Provisions” of the Law of Ukraine “On Mandatory State Pension Insurance” <...> Articles 22.2, 64 of the Law of Ukraine “On Pension Provision of Military Men, Persons of Senior Staff and the Ranks of Bodies of Domestic Affairs and Some Other Persons” <...> shall be applied in the manner, under the conditions and within the time limits determined by the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine”.

From the content of the constitutional complaint and the materials attached to it, it appears that Eduard Dudkevych is registered with the Main Directorate of the Pension Fund of Ukraine in the Chernivtsi region (hereinafter, the “Directorate”) and receives a pension for length of service in accordance with the Law of Ukraine “On Pension Provision of Military Men, Persons of Senior Staff and the Ranks of Bodies of Domestic Affairs and Some Other Persons.”

Since March 2023, the Administration has recalculated his pension on the basis of the Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine “On the Indexation of Pension and Insurance Payments and Additional Measures to Improve the Level of Social Protection of the Most Vulnerable Groups of the Population in 2023” No. 168 dated 24 February 2023 (hereinafter, “Resolution No. 168”) with the application of an increase coefficient of 1.197 and a limit on the increase (indexation) of UAH 1,500.

Disagreeing with this, he appealed to the Chernivtsi District Administrative Court with a claim against the Directorate, in which, in particular, he requested to calculate and pay the increase (indexation) to the pension in accordance with paragraph 2 of Resolution No. 168, taking into account the additional payment in accordance with the Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine “On Additional Social Protection for Certain Categories of Persons” No. 713 dated 14 July 2021, applying an increase coefficient of 1.197 “in the amount of its actual accrual in full without the limit of UAH 1,500 and without the limit of the maximum pension amount, taking into account the amounts previously paid”.

The Chernivtsi District Administrative Court dismissed the claim; the Court of Appeal dismissed the applicant's appeal, leaving the decision of the court of first instance unchanged; the Supreme Court refused to initiate cassation proceedings for Eduard Dudkevych.

In the applicant's opinion, the contested provisions of the Law violate his right to social protection, as they narrow the possibility of proper recalculation and indexation of the pension awarded to him as a military serviceman.

The Judge-Rapporteur also stated that he had sent a number of requests to clarify the legal positions or scientific opinion on the issues under deliberation. In particular, letters of inquiry were sent to the Vasyl Stefanyk Carpathian National University, the Leonid Yuzkov Khmelnytskyi University of Management and Law, the Kyiv Institute of Law of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, the National University “Odesa Law Academy” and state authorities.

After examining the case materials in the public part of the plenary session, the Court proceeded to the in-camera deliberations for a decision.

The video recording of the plenary session is available on the Court’s official website in the Section “Archive of Video Broadcasts of Sessions”.