Ukraine has declared a political boycott of the Paralympic Games in Italy after Russian and Belarusian athletes were allowed to compete under their national flags.
The Ukrainian government delegation will skip the opening ceremony and other official events at the 2026 Paralympics, Sports Minister Matvii Bidnyi said on social media on Wednesday, February 18. “The organizers’ decision to allow the killers and their accomplices to participate in the Games under the national flag causes disappointment and outrage,” Bidnyi said.
Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha wrote on X: “The decision to admit Russia and Belarus under national symbols ignores a simple truth: these flags and anthems represent regimes that wage aggression, destroy cities and use sport as a weapon for propaganda. They cannot be separated from the crimes committed under their flag. In today’s Russia even Paralympic sport is used to glorify participants in the war against Ukraine.”
Sybiha added that he had instructed Ukrainian ambassadors to engage officials in their host countries and urge them not to attend the March 6 opening ceremony if the decision to admit Russians and Belarusians is not reversed.
The International Paralympic Committee (IPC) has cleared six Russian athletes and four Belarusian athletes to compete under the Russian and Belarusian flags for the first time since the war in Ukraine began in February 2022.
The decision was based on a resolution adopted by the IPC General Assembly in September last year that unexpectedly lifted Russia’s suspension, allowing its athletes to compete under national symbols at the Paralympics in northern Italy.
The Winter Paralympic Games are scheduled for March 6–15. Events will be hosted by Milan, Cortina d’Ampezzo and Val di Fiemme. Russia and Belarus have been barred from the Paralympics since the Beijing 2022 Winter Games. At the ongoing Olympics in Italy, athletes from Russia and Belarus are competing only under neutral status and without national symbols.
