KyivPride
About This Event
KyivPride is the Ukrainian LGBTQ+ rights organisation that runs the capital's Equality March each June, with a charity festival and smaller events around it. The first march went ahead in 2013; by Radio Svoboda's count, June 2026 was the tenth. This is a protest under heavy police protection, not a street party, and since 2022 the war has shaped every edition.
In June 2022, with Kyiv under attack, KyivPride marched in Warsaw instead, at the head of the Polish capital's Equality Parade, with about 300 people from Ukraine. In 2023 organisers asked to march inside the Kyiv metro, which doubles as a bomb shelter; the city refused, citing security. The first wartime march in Kyiv came on 16 June 2024: about 500 people registered, time and place stayed private until that morning, and the rally stayed mostly static behind a police cordon before dispersing quickly, while a few hundred nationalist counter-protesters moved along Khreshchatyk.
It has grown since. On 14 June 2025 organisers counted about 1,500 marchers; KyivPride Park, the charity festival, was pushed from VDNH to Mykhailivska Square, and the two events raised over 212,000 hryvnias for the army. On Sunday 21 June 2026, under the slogan "Our families are part of Ukraine", organisers counted about 5,000 people, soldiers, veterans and diplomats among them, on a 1.2 km route from the Red Building of Shevchenko University along Taras Shevchenko Boulevard to near Ploshcha Ukrainskykh Heroiv metro. An air-raid alert sounded partway through, explosions were heard across the city, and people dispersed. A rival "March of Traditions" gathered on Khreshchatyk, kept apart by police. KyivPride Park ran a week earlier, on 14 June.
The demands are concrete: drop a draft Civil Code that defines family only as a man and a woman, recognise civil partnerships for soldiers and civilians, add criminal liability for homophobic and transphobic crimes, and bring trans healthcare in line with the WHO's ICD-11.
Think hard before travelling for it: Ukraine is under martial law, air-raid alerts are routine, and most governments advise against travel. Marchers register in advance and the route is shared late. The 2027 dates hadn't been announced when we checked; since 2024 the march has fallen in mid-to-late June.
Where to stay during KyivPride
via Stay22Schedule & Sub-Events
+ Add EventDetailed schedule coming soon.
Check the official website for the latest programme.
Videos
⚡️Анна Шаригіна про організацію прайду у Києві⚡️
