Nearly 69% of Ukrainians do not trust the Supreme Court

The level of distrust among Ukrainians toward the Supreme Court has reached 68.6%. The main reasons cited for the negative perception of the judiciary include corruption, judges’ dependence on politicians and oligarchs, and insufficient integrity. These findings are based on a nationwide survey conducted by DEJURE Foundation in February 2025.

According to the survey results, 27.1% of respondents stated that they do not trust the Supreme Court at all, while 41.5% said they rather distrust it than trust it. Only 3.7% of Ukrainians fully trust the highest judicial authority, and 22.6% tend to trust it more than not. Additionally, 4% of respondents found it difficult to answer, and 1.1% refused to respond.

The survey also identified the most significant factors contributing to public distrust in the judiciary:

• Judicial corruption – 69.9%
• Judges’ dependence on politicians and oligarchs – 50.4%
• Insufficient integrity – 44.4%
• Poor quality of laws that courts are forced to apply – 22.8%
• Insufficient number of judges – 6.4%

“This is yet another confirmation that we urgently need to reform the Supreme Court, starting with its composition renewal. Moreover, according to the majority of Ukrainians, this should be done with the prevailing role of independent international experts in the process. Only in this way can we ensure that the cleansing of the Supreme Court and the selection of judges will be conducted independently and produce real results. We call on the Verkhovna Rada to swiftly adopt the draft law that will launch this process. Furthermore, this has been a demand from our European Union partners,” emphasized Mykhailo Zhernakov, co-Founder and Executive Director of the DEJURE Foundation.

The survey was conducted from February 4 to 9, 2025, by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology in collaboration with the Ilko Kucheriv “Democratic Initiatives” Foundation at the request of DEJURE Foundation.

A total of 1,034 telephone interviews were conducted, with a statistical margin of error not exceeding 4.1%. The survey targeted Ukrainian citizens aged 18 and older residing in government-controlled territories at the time of the survey. Residents of temporarily occupied territories were excluded from the sample, and the survey did not include Ukrainians who had left the country after February 24, 2022.