Ukraine's Supreme Court has, for the first time, recognized a same-sex couple as a family in a "de facto" marriage, a landmark step for LGBTI rights in a country that still bans same-sex marriage in law.
In a ruling delivered on Feb. 25 and made public in early March, the Supreme Court upheld earlier decisions in favor of LGBTQ+ activists Zoryan Kis and Tymur Levchuk, effectively confirming their relationship as a de facto marriage under Ukrainian law.
A Kyiv district court had first recognized the couple as a family in June 2025, and that ruling was later upheld by an appeals court before reaching the Supreme Court. The case began after the Foreign Ministry refused in 2024 to recognize Levchuk as Kis's family member, blocking him from joining Kis on a diplomatic posting to Israel, according to Amnesty.
During the proceedings, lawyers argued that Kis and Levchuk had lived together since 2013, held an informal wedding ceremony in Ukraine in 2016, and formally married in the United States in 2021, and should therefore be treated as a family.
The courts relied on existing constitutional principles and past Constitutional Court interpretations that define family more broadly than just registered heterosexual marriages, allowing recognition of people who live together and share responsibilities.
Although Ukraine's 1996 Constitution still defines marriage as a union between a man and a woman, the Supreme Court found that this did not prevent recognizing the couple's relationship as a de facto marriage for specific legal purposes.
Conservative group Vsi Razom (All Together) tried to overturn the lower court's ruling, claiming it violated "traditional family values," but the Supreme Court rejected the appeal and left the recognition in place.
Human rights group Insight LGBTQ, which supported the couple, hailed the Supreme Court decision as a "tremendous" and "colossal" precedent that will make it harder for homophobic or conservative organizations to use courts to roll back LGBTI protections.
Activists say the ruling creates a legal pathway for other same-sex couples to seek recognition as families, especially in areas such as family reunification, social benefits, and diplomatic postings, Yahoo News reported.
The decision comes as Ukraine pursues closer integration with the European Union, which has pressed Kyiv to improve legal protection for same-sex couples as part of its membership roadmap.
A bill to create civil partnerships for same-sex couples, introduced in 2023, has been stalled in parliament for years, and Ukraine still has no formal system for recognizing same-sex unions.
Rights organizations warn that a draft revision of the Civil Code could still jeopardize the gains from the Kis and Levchuk case if lawmakers fail to include clear protections for same-sex relationships.
Despite these uncertainties, LGBTI groups view the Supreme Court's move as a historic advancement that reflects wider changes in Ukrainian society during wartime, where public support for equal rights has slowly grown.
They stress, however, that full equality will require parliament to act, including passing a civil partnership law and aligning family legislation with European human rights standards, as per Kyiv Independent.
