In a historic moment for the country, the Supreme Court in Ukraine has recognised a same-sex couple as a family for the very first time.

The case involved Zoryan Kis and Tymur Levchuk, two men who have lived together since 2013. The couple got legally married in the US in 2021. The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry later refused to recognise the same-sex couple as a family, therefore denying them their spousal rights.

Kis and Levchuk decided to challenge this refusal in court in 2024. In a landmark ruling delivered last year, a District Court recognised the couple as family. However, the ruling was appealed by Vsi Razom, an anti-LGBTQ+ organisation whose charter lists among its goals the “prevention of the legalisation of same-sex marriages and partnerships in Ukraine.”

On February 25 this year, the Ukrainian Supreme Court upheld the lower court’s ruling, affirming that the same-sex couple constitutes a family. The court ruled that a third party (Vsi Razom), whose rights and obligations are not affected by the decision, cannot challenge it in court.

Welcoming the ruling on social media, Insight, the LGBTQ+ organisation that represented Kis and Levchuk, called it “a tremendous precedent.”

“No homophobic or conservative organisation will be able to use the courts as a tool to persecute or overturn decisions in favour of LGBT+ people under the guise of ‘social morality,’” they said. “The state has protected the boundaries of private life.”

In a statement to the Washington Blade, Insight Chair Olena Shevchenko added: “The Supreme Court of Ukraine has upheld the legality of recognising a same-sex couple as a family based on their factual relationship, despite the absence of legal recognition of same-sex partnerships in Ukrainian legislation.

“The court confirmed the decision, establishing the fact that (the) two men had lived together as a family, affirming that such recognition can be based on proven circumstances of their shared life rather than on political decisions or the existence of formal partnership laws.”

While same-sex marriage is not legal in Ukraine, in 2022, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy publicly backed civil partnerships for same-sex couples. In February, Ukraine marked four years since the Russian invasion of the country began.