Ukrainian officials will not attend the Winter Paralympics following the news that Russian athletes will be allowed to compete under their country’s flag at the games. Ukrainian officials will boycott the event due to the ongoing war with Russia. The country will allow its athletes to compete in the Paralympic Games, however.
Ukraine’s minister of youth and sports Matvii Bidnyi announced the news in a statement on X, saying the Paralympics’ decision “to allow killers and their accomplices to compete at the Paralympic Games under national flags is both disappointing and outrageous.”
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Bidnyi went on to say that the flags of Russia and Belarus have “no place at international sporting events that stand for fairness, integrity, and respect.” He added that those flags have “turned sport into a tool of war, lies and contempt.”
Bidnyi said the inclusion of Russian athletes in the Paralympics was a way to normalize the war in Ukraine. He vowed to keep fighting “against Russia’s attempts to politicize sport.”
That response came just hours after the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) announced that athletes from Russia and Belarus will be allowed to compete at the Paralympics under their respective country’s flags. A total of 10 athletes from those countries are expected to take part in the Winter Paralympics.
The IPC voted in 2025 to lift the suspensions of both countries, paving the way for Wednesday’s announcement.
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That ruling is not consistent with the one made by the International Olympics Committee (IOC) ahead of the 2026 Winter Olympics. The IOC allowed athletes from Russia and Belarus to take part in the Olympics, but as independent neutral athletes. Those athletes compete under the abbreviation AIN, which stands for “Athlètes Individuels Neutres,” the French translation of independent neutral athletes. The IPC and IOC operate independently, which is why the two events will handle the situation differently in 2026.
As of Wednesday morning, AIN athletes have yet to win a medal at the 2026 Milan Cortina Olympics.
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While Ukraine has taken part in the 2026 Olympics, the country has been the subject of controversy. Ukrainian skeleton athlete Vladyslav Heraskevych was disqualified from the Olympics by the IOC for wearing a helmet honoring Ukrainian athletes killed in the war with Russia. The Olympic charter has rules against “political, religious or racial propaganda” being displayed at the event.
Heraskevych’s decision to insist on wearing that helmet was praised by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who said the country was “proud of Vladyslav and of what he did.”
The Winter Paralympics will begin March 6 and run through March 15 in Milan and Cortina. Ukrainian athletes will be present at the games, but officials will boycott the event, including the Opening Ceremony.
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