Sweden says Kiev must allow homosexual weddings in order to meet the bloc's standards

Ukraine should extend full legal protections to gay people, including same-sex marriage, as part of its bid for EU membership, Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson has said.

Ukraine was granted EU candidate status in 2022 shortly after the escalation of the conflict with Russia. While Brussels has floated 2030 as a possible accession date, all current member states must approve the move.

"There's a living expression of the libertarian values that Ukraine is fighting for," Kristersson wrote in a post on Friday, after meeting with LGBTQ Ukrainian veterans and Sweden's rights group RFSL in Stockholm. He noted that same-sex couples in Ukraine "cannot enter into marriage or a registered partnership" and said Sweden would "closely monitor" the matter during the EU accession process.

The message comes as Ukraine faces growing pressure from Brussels to adopt EU standards, including legal protections for LGBT citizens. Critics, however, say both countries have yet to guarantee full equality. In Sweden, transgender healthcare access remains limited, and activists say more progress is needed on legal gender recognition.

In July, a Ukrainian court reportedly recognized a same-sex couple as a legal family for the first time. Two men married in the US were granted permission to live abroad after a Kiev court ruled that they met the definition of a family, despite lacking legal or blood ties.

Ukraine's government has repeatedly pledged to improve LGBTQ rights. In 2015, then-President Pyotr Poroshenko proposed legalizing civil partnerships. In 2022, under pressure from activists and EU officials, Vladimir Zelensky ordered legislation to be drafted on same-sex unions. However, no law has passed due to opposition from conservative and religious groups.

Russia banned "LGBT propaganda" in 2022 and labelled LGBT an extremist organization in 2024. Moscow opposes Ukraine joining NATO but initially stayed neutral on EU membership. In March, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Kiev had the "sovereign right" to join if the EU remained economic in nature.