In June 2025, Kyiv’s Desnianskyi District Court established the existence of de facto marital relations between Zorian Kis, first secretary of Ukraine’s embassy in Israel, and his partner Tymur Levchuk.
The case was prompted in part by the issue of accompanying the diplomat abroad. Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry refused to process the partner’s travel as that of a family member, citing that Ukrainian law defines marriage as a union between a woman and a man.
The District Court applied the concept of “de facto marital relations” as a form of family life, recognizing the two men’s cohabitation as one family.
With a recent ruling, the Supreme Court of Ukraine confirmed the existence of de facto marital relations between two men for the first time in the country’s history.
The Supreme Court ruled that a party that did not participate in the case and whose rights and obligations are not affected by the ruling cannot challenge the decision. The Supreme Court therefore leaves in force the lower court’s position, which established that the two men had lived together as one family, confirming the existence of de facto marital relations.
Public support for LGBTQ+ rights in Ukraine has grown steadily in recent years as the country has drawn closer to Europe, and in particular after Russia’s invasion on the sovereign nation in 2022.
One important step, but there is a lot to walk.
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