On September 25, 2025, the Chairman of the High Qualification Commission of Judges of Ukraine, Andrii Pasichnyk, and the Deputy Chairman of the Commission, Oleh Koliush, took part in a traditional meeting with the heads of appellate courts, organised by the Supreme Court of Ukraine.
The meeting was attended by Stanislav Kravchenko, Chairman of the Supreme Court; Iryna Mudra, Deputy Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine; Bohdan Monich, Chairman of the Council of Judges of Ukraine; Andrii Ovsiienko, Representative of the Commissioner for the Rights to Fair Trial and Representation before the Constitutional Court of Ukraine; and Maksym Pampura, Acting Head of the State Judicial Administration of Ukraine. The participants discussed current challenges faced by the judicial branch, addressed general organisational matters, and identified key priorities for the future.
The Chairman of the High Qualification Commission of Judges of Ukraine
Andrii Pasichnyk outlined the Commission’s top priorities in the ongoing selection of judges for local courts and competitive recruitment procedures. He noted that the selection of new judges is approaching the final stage of the qualification examination, laying the groundwork for launching competition procedures as early as the beginning of 2026.
According to Mr. Pasichnyk, there are currently around 1,300 judicial vacancies in first-instance courts, although the workload of judges varies significantly. Therefore, before announcing new competitions, it is important to take a balanced approach to allocating resources to ensure the most effective results.
Mr. Pasichnyk also spoke about the competition for positions in the High Anti-Corruption Court, which introduces a new model for forming a unified ranking of candidates. A total of 158 applicants have been admitted to the qualification assessment and competition. The Commission plans to conduct joint interviews with the Public Council of International Experts in February–March 2026. At the same time, preparations are underway for competitions in specialised administrative courts: an Expert Council comprising national and international specialists has been established, and assignments and test materials have been developed.
Another important area of the Commission’s work is the competition for appellate courts. Winners for the Sumy and Zhytomyr appellate courts have already been determined, while interviews for other general appellate courts are ongoing. The Commission plans to complete the competition for the second group of courts and move on to the third group in 2026.