SIR Elton John’s hopes of adopting a Ukrainian toddler have been thrown in to doubt after a government minister said the country’s laws would not allow it.

The singer announced on Saturday he wanted to adopt a 14-month-old boy called Lev, whom he said had “stolen his heart”.

But Ukraine’s family, youth and sports minister, Yuriy Pavlenko, said the adoption was not possible because Sir Elton is too old and not married.

Adoptive parents must be married under Ukrainian rules, and although Sir Elton and his partner David Furnish have been joined in a civil ceremony, the former Soviet republic does not recognise same-sex unions.

The law in Ukraine also states that adoptive parents should be no more than 45 years older than the child, making Sir Elton, 62, too old.

His spokesman said he had no comment to make on the news from Ukraine.

Sir Elton met Lev, who is HIV-positive, at an orphanage for children whose parents had fallen victim to Aids.

Ukraine has the fastest-rising HIV infection rate in Europe, and Sir Elton had travelled there with his Aids Foundation.