Desnyan District Court of Kyiv admitted the existence of actual marital relations between the first secretary of the Embassy of Ukraine in Israel Zoryan Kis and his partner, public activist Timur Levchuk. This was the first such decision in Ukraine, reported public organization “Insight”.
In June 2024, Zoryan Kisy was appointed the first secretary of the Ukrainian embassy in Israel, which involved a long trip abroad. He intended to go with his partner Timur Levchuk, but the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine refused, citing the current legislation, which recognizes marriage only as the union of a woman and a man.
After that, Kis turned to the court with a demand to recognize the de facto marital relationship between him and Levchuk — living together as a family without official registration. An application was submitted to the Desnyan court in September 2024, but then the opening of the proceedings was refused. The case was referred to the Supreme Court, which ordered the court of first instance to consider the appeal.
On May 7, 2025, the Desnian court opened proceedings, and already on June 10, it made a decision to establish the fact of cohabitation by one family. The reason for this was that the couple has been living together since 2013, in 2017 they held a wedding ceremony in Ukraine, and in 2021 they officially registered their marriage in the USA. In its decision, the court relied on the Constitution of Ukraine and the practice of the European Court of Human Rights, in particular in the case against Ukraine.
“This decision creates an important precedent in the matter of legal recognition of same-sex relationships in Ukraine. Against the background of the absence of legally established institutions (registered partnerships or marriages), judicial recognition of the fact of family relationships is currently the only tool for protecting the rights of such couples.” – emphasized in “Insight”.
Zoryan Kis himself admitted that the decision came as a surprise to them:
“Frankly speaking, we did not expect that the court would recognize the existence of a de facto marital relationship between us.”
They were particularly impressed by the language of the court decision, in particular the phrase: “being connected by a common life, which is based on a common budget, feelings of mutual respect and love for each other.”
“At least now no one can doubt the sincerity of our feelings – we really love each other.” Zoryan emphasized.
