Ukraine’s Winter Paralympics team will boycott the event’s opening ceremony next month after Russian and Belarusian athletes were invited to compete under their national flags.
On Tuesday, it was announced six Russian and four Belarusian athletes will take part in alpine skiing, cross-country skiing and snowboarding at the Milan-Cortina Games, which start on 6 March.
Both countries had previously been suspended from Paralympic competition after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, with Belarus an ally of Russia.
In September, the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) lifted its ban on athletes from the two countries competing at the Games.
However, the IPC does not govern the six sports contested at the Paralympics and despite the individual bodies, including the International Ski and Snowboard Federation (FIS), refusing to lift their own bans, Russia and Belarus won an appeal to the Court of Arbitration of Sport against FIS.
As a result, athletes have been able to return to FIS competitions and the 10 Paralympians have been awarded bipartite commission invitations to compete in Italy.
Following an announcement that Ukrainian officials would avoid the entire competition, the country’s National Paralympic Committee now says team members will not take part in the opening ceremony.
The organisation has also made a “demand that the Ukrainian flag not be used”.
The team will still compete in the Games and “fight for the sporting victories of Ukrainian athletes”.
In response, the IPC told BBC Sport: “The IPC is in regular dialogue with NPC Ukraine and we are discussing the statement within the IPC.”
An IPC news conference, featuring president Andrew Parsons, was due to take place on Friday in Milan but has been cancelled.
Earlier this week in its response to criticism over the decision to allow the Russian and Belarusian athletes to compete, the IPC said it was a “democratic organisation and the decision to lift the partial suspension of NPCs Belarus and Russia was taken by IPC member organisations at the 2025 General Assembly”.
It added: “At this meeting nearly 180 of the IPC’s 211 members were in attendance and voted on this matter. We have to respect the decision of our members who come from all over the world.”
In its statement announcing the boycott, the National Paralympic Committee of Ukraine described the IPC’s decision as “shameful” and that it “completely contradicts the principles” of the Games.
