KIEV, Ukraine (September 14, 2009)--A Ukrainian official says Elton John cannot adopt a 14-month-old Ukrainian child because the pop star is too old and isn't married.

John said Saturday that he and his male partner wanted to adopt an HIV-infected boy named Lev whom the singer met during a visit to an orphanage, but Family, Youth and Sports Minister Yuriy Pavlenko told The Associated Press Monday that adoptive parents must be married, and Ukraine does not recognize homosexual unions as marriage.

Pavlenko also says John is too old.

The singer is 62 and Ukrainian law requires a parent to be no more than 45 years older than an adopted child.