The Grand Chamber of the Supreme Court Summed Up the Half-Year Results: The Number of Cases Considered on the Merits Increased by 40%

The Grand Chamber of the Supreme Court has summarised the results of its work for the first half of 2026. Serhii Pogribnyi, Secretary of the Grand Chamber, reported on these activities during the judges' meeting.

During the reporting period, the number of applications, complaints, cases, and proceedings submitted for the Grand Chamber’s consideration increased by 5% compared to the first half of 2025, totalling 477 materials. This figure is up from 456 materials submitted in the corresponding period last year.

In total, the Grand Chamber had 756 procedural submissions (applications, cases, complaints, proceedings) under consideration during the first six months of 2026. Of these, 63% were new submissions, and 37% were proceedings carried over from the beginning of 2026. Significantly, the number of procedural submissions under consideration in the first half of this year was 20% higher than in the first half of 2025, which saw 630 submissions.

The majority of these procedural submissions were cases transferred through the appeal procedure, accounting for 48% (359 cases). Submissions filed with procedural violations constituted 18% (108 submissions), while cases transferred via the cassation procedure made up 14% (109 cases). Applications under exceptional circumstances represented 12%, and complaints in disciplinary proceedings accounted for 8%.

Serhii Pogribnyi noted that, by jurisdictional criterion, administrative cases formed the largest share of materials considered by the Grand Chamber in the first half of this year, at 69%. Civil cases accounted for 13%, criminal proceedings for 12%, and commercial cases for 6%.

The Secretary of the Grand Chamber also provided statistical data on the number of procedural submissions reviewed. During the reporting period, the Grand Chamber reviewed 397 procedural submissions (applications, complaints, cases, and proceedings) across all jurisdictions, a 5% increase over last year’s figure of 379. The total number of cases considered on their merits, resulting in a decision, was 218. This represents an approximately 40% increase compared to the 155 cases considered on their merits in the first half of 2025.

Overall, the Grand Chamber issued 1,096 court decisions in the first half of 2026: 218 rulings and 878 orders.

Regarding cassation review, Serhii Pogribnyi highlighted that the number of cases transferred to the Grand Chamber by cassation courts increased by 9% in the first half of 2026 (63 cases) compared to the first half of 2025 (58 cases). Including carryovers from 2025, the Grand Chamber had 109 cases under cassation review, broken down as follows:

• 44% civil cases (48 cases);

• 37% commercial cases (40 cases);

• 11% criminal proceedings (12 proceedings);

• 8% administrative cases (9 cases).

The most common grounds for transferring cases to the Grand Chamber were the presence of an exceptional legal issue (33% of cases), the need to depart from previous conclusions of the Grand Chamber (30% of cases), and the need to depart from legal conclusions of another cassation court (29% of cases).

The number of cases considered on their merits in the cassation procedure during the reporting period increased by 77%, from 13 in the first half of 2025 to 23 in the first half of 2026.

The dynamics of appeal complaint review showed a 30% increase compared to the first half of last year. Including unresolved appeal complaints carried over from 2025, the Grand Chamber had 359 appeal complaints under consideration in the first half of 2026, compared to 263 complaints in the previous year. Of these, 148 appeal complaints were considered on their merits during the reporting period, up from 114 in the first half of 2025.

Furthermore, in the first half of the current year, the Grand Chamber had three exemplary cases under consideration, two of which were heard on their merits. During the reporting period, 25 complaints against decisions of the High Council of Justice, adopted following the review of complaints against decisions of its Disciplinary Chamber, were submitted to the Grand Chamber, with 57 complaints remaining under consideration. Of these, 23 complaints were considered on their merits, compared to 13 complaints reviewed during the same period in 2025, marking a 77% increase in review dynamics for this category of cases. The Grand Chamber also had 93 applications for review of court decisions under exceptional circumstances under consideration in the first half of 2026.

As summarised by the Secretary of the Grand Chamber, in the first half of 2026, the Grand Chamber formulated several legal positions that strengthened the stability of law enforcement in key areas of social relations. These included challenges to decisions of the High Qualification Commission of Judges of Ukraine concerning the evaluation of practical work and results of cognitive ability testing; challenges to rulings of the Administrative Court of the Supreme Court on refusal to open proceedings or on closing proceedings in cases concerning challenges to decisions of the High Council of Justice to leave complaints against judges' actions without consideration; challenges to presidential decrees on the imposition of sanctions; and the possibility of using information contained in protocols of secret investigative actions within disciplinary proceedings, among others.

At the close of the meeting, Stanislav Kravchenko, Chairman of the Supreme Court, thanked the judges of the Grand Chamber of the Supreme Court and the staff of the Supreme Court Apparatus for their diligent and conscientious fulfilment of duties in ensuring the administration of justice, despite the realities of war and security threats.

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