February 11, 2026
On February 11, 2026, during the public part of the plenary session in the form of written proceedings, the Second Senate considered the case upon constitutional complaints filed by Oksana Melikova and Oleksiy Nevmerzhitsky.
As noted by the judge-rapporteur in the case, Oleg Pervomaiskyi, the applicants appealed to the Court with requests to review the constitutionality of Article 45 of the Law of Ukraine “On the State Budget of Ukraine for 2025” No. 4059-IX dated November 19, 2024, (hereinafter the “Law No. 4059”).
Article 45 of Law No. 4059 defines the conditions, procedure, and amount of additional payments to pensions for non-working pensioners who permanently reside in the zone of unconditional (mandatory) resettlement and in the zone of guaranteed voluntary resettlement. In particular, article 45.1 establishes a supplement for living in the specified territories in the amount of 2,361 hryvnia.
The judge-rapporteur outlined the content of the constitutional complaints and the applicants' arguments.
The constitutional complaint filed by Oksana Melikova reveals the following circumstances of the case.
She is a pensioner who does not work, has the status of a person affected by the Chornobyl disaster, and lives in a settlement classified as a zone of radioactive contamination as a result of the Chornobyl disaster.
Until 2015, pensioners with this status received a supplement (increase) to their pension, established by Article 39 of the Law of Ukraine “On the Status and Social Protection of Citizens Affected by the Chornobyl Disaster” No. 796-XII, dated February 28, 1991 (hereinafter the “Law No. 796”).
Since January 2015, these payments have been discontinued due to changes in legislation. In particular, in connection with the exclusion of Article 39 of Law No. 796 on the basis of subparagraph 7 of paragraph 4 of Section I of the Law of Ukraine “On Amendments and Recognition of Certain Legislative Acts of Ukraine as Invalid” No. 76-VIII, dated December 28, 2014(hereinafter the “Law No. 76”).
In 2018, the Constitutional Court of Ukraine, by its Decision No. 6-r/2018, subparagraph 7 of paragraph 4 of Section I of Law No. 76 (in terms of abolishing or limiting the benefits, compensations, and guarantees established by Law No. 796 regarding the social protection of persons affected by the Chernobyl disaster) unconstitutional.
In October 2022, Oksana Melikova filed an administrative lawsuit with the Rivne District Administrative Court against the Main Directorate of the Pension Fund of Ukraine in the Rivne Region (hereinafter the "Directorate"). The essence of the legal dispute was the Administration's failure to calculate and pay a pension supplement to a pensioner who does not work and lives in an area of radioactive contamination, in the amount specified in Article 39 of Law No. 796 (equal to two minimum wages established by the law on the State Budget of Ukraine for the relevant year).
The Rivne District Administrative Court upheld the claims in full. In particular, it ruled that the actions of the Directorate regarding the calculation and payment of the applicant's pension supplement, starting from October 15, 2022, in an amount “based on two subsistence minimums rather than two minimum wages” were unlawful.
From January 1, 2025, with the entry into force of Law No. 4059, the accrual and payment of the corresponding “pension supplement” was discontinued. In this regard, Oksana Melikova appealed to the Rivne District Administrative Court with a request to establish judicial control over the enforcement of the court's decision adopted in 2022.
The court accepted the report submitted by the Administration on the enforcement of the court decision in the case of Oksana Melikova. In the report, the Directoeate noted that, in accordance with the court decision, Oksana Melikova's pension had been recalculated and a “pension supplement” had been established in accordance with Article 39 of Law No. 796. and with regard to the establishment of a “pension supplement” from January 1, 2025, the Administration acted in accordance with the requirements of Article 45 of Law No. 4059.
Disagreeing with the court's ruling, Oksana Melikova appealed it. The Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal and upheld the ruling of the court of first instance. The Supreme Court refused to open cassation proceedings because the cassation appeal was filed against a court decision that was not subject to cassation appeal.
The applicant considers that Article 45 of Law No. 4059 contradicts Part 2 of Article 3 of the Basic Law of Ukraine and “is in fact a refusal by the state to fulfill its obligations under Article 16 of the Constitution of Ukraine, including those relating to the social protection of persons affected by the Chornobyl disaster.”
The constitutional complaint filed by Oleksiy Nevmerzhitsky reveals the following circumstances of the case.
Oleksiy Nevmerzhitsky is registered with the Main Directorate of the Pension Fund of Ukraine in Zhytomyr Region (hereinafter the “Directorate”) and lives in a settlement that is classified as a zone of radioactive contamination as a result of the Chornobyl disaster.
In accordance with the decision of the Zhytomyr District Administrative Court of October 4, 2021, the Administration calculated and paid him a “pension increase” in the amount specified in Article 39 of Law No. 796.
After Law No. 4059 came into force on January 1, 2025, the Administration stopped calculating and paying the corresponding “pension supplement.” In this regard, Oleksiy Nevmerzhitsky appealed to the Zhytomyr District Administrative Court with a statement requesting that the actions of the Administration be recognized as unlawful and that the Administration be obliged to take measures to eliminate the causes and conditions that contributed to the improper execution of the decision of the Zhytomyr District Administrative Court dated October 4, 2021.
The courts of first and appellate instances denied the application. The Supreme Court refused to open cassation proceedings. Consequently, Oleksiy Nevmerzhitsky appealed to the Constitutional Court of Ukraine, arguing that the contested provisions of Law No. 4059 violated his rights as defined by a number of articles of the Constitution of Ukraine.
The judge-rapporteur reported that he had sent letters of inquiry to state authorities and a number of higher education and scientific institutions, in particular, to Vasyl Stefanyk Carpathian National University, Ivan Franko National University of Lviv, and I.I. Mechnikov Odessa National University.
The judge also noted that the Court is currently deliberating several appeals on the same subject of constitutional review.
After examining the case materials, the Court proceeded to the closed part of the plenary session.
Oksana Melikova, the subject of the constitutional complaint, participated in the plenary session.
A video recording of the plenary session is available on the Court's official website under the heading “Archive of video broadcasts of sessions.”
