KIEV, Aug. 4 (Xinhua) -- Express marriage service has become popular in Mariupol, a city only some 10 km away from the contact line between government troops and independence-seeking insurgents in eastern Ukraine, local authorities said Friday.
Some 1,500 couples have obtained marriage licenses through the service that allows them to get married within 24 hours, instead of waiting for registration at least a month after application, said the city council.
About two-thirds of the couples using the service come from the insurgent-controlled territories in eastern Ukraine, it said.
"This project has given an opportunity to young people from non-controlled territories, internally displaced persons, military men, and ordinary residents of our city to register a marriage on the very day of the application," said Olena Pavlova, acting head of the local office of the Justice Ministry in the Donetsk region.
The long wait of at least 30 days required before is intended to give young people more time to consider their decision to marry. In August 2016, the Justice Ministry launched the pilot project of one-day marriage in Mariupol, as well as in Kiev and four other cities in different areas of Ukraine.
Currently, the service is available in 35 cities and towns across the east European country and Mariupol ranks fourth in terms of the number of express marriages.
Ukraine's eastern region has seen a conflict spreading since April 2014 when government troops launched offensives to regain control over the lands seized by insurgents.
Mariupol has been under the control of the government forces since June 2014.
