Ukraine - June 2025

A court ruling in Ukraine recognized a same-sex couple as a legal family for the first time on 10 June, setting a major legal precedent in a country where LGBTQIA+ rights lack significant de jure protections. The Desniansky District Court in Kyiv ruled in favor of Ukrainian diplomat Zoryan Kis and against his employer, the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry, which had refused to acknowledge Kis’s partner Tymur Levchuk as his spouse when he was posted to Ukraine’s diplomatic mission to Israel. Kis and Levchuk have cohabitated since 2013 and married in the United States in 2021. The court ruling cited both European Court of Human Rights decisions on same-sex marriage as well as rights guaranteed in the Ukrainian Constitution. The ruling only concerns the affected parties, but provides a key precedent for establishing broader legal recognition of LGBTQIA+ families in Ukrainian law.

Sources: Kyiv Independent, New Voice of Ukraine

Ukrainian Vice Prime Minister Oleksii Chernyshov was charged with abuse of office and receiving illicit benefits on 23 June, making him the highest-ranking sitting official to face corruption-related charges. Chernyshov is accused of undervaluing publicly owned land between 2020 and 2022 in his former role as Minister for Communities and Territories and thereby selling properties to private developers at a discount. The National Anti-Corruption Bureau alleges that Chernyshov and others received discounted apartment buildings in exchange for worth over UAH 14.5 million (USD 350,000) and the cost to public finances was UAH 1 billion (USD 24 million). Chernyshov, considered a close ally of President Volodymr Zelenskyy, has been banned from leaving the country and ordered to pay UAH 120 million (USD 3 million) in bail while the investigation continues.

Sources: Kyiv Independent, Bloomberg, Ukrainian News