Milano Cortina 2026: Ukraine Officials And Athletes To Boycott Winter Paralympics Opening Ceremony – Here’s Why

Ukraine’s Winter Paralympic team will boycott the opening ceremony of the 2026 Winter Paralympics after Russian and Belarusian athletes were invited to compete under their national flags. The Games start on 6 March.

The International Paralympic Committee (IPC) announced that six Russian and four Belarusian athletes will compete in alpine skiing, cross-country skiing, and snowboarding. Both nations had been suspended from Paralympic competition following Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, with Belarus as a close ally.

In September 2025, the IPC lifted its ban on athletes from Russia and Belarus.

Despite initial refusals from individual federations, including the International Ski and Snowboard Federation (FIS), Russia and Belarus won an appeal at the Court of Arbitration for Sport, allowing athletes to return to FIS competitions. Ten Paralympians received bipartite invitations to compete in Italy.

Ukraine To Boycott Winter Paralympics Opening Ceremony – Who Said What

Ukraine’s National Paralympic Committee confirmed that team members will skip the opening ceremony and requested that the Ukrainian flag not be displayed alongside Russia’s.

Valeriy Sushkevych, president of Ukraine’s Paralympic Committee, said, "Our team will not be participating in [the] opening ceremony. We ask not to present our flag in opening ceremony together with Russia."

He added, "We will be participants in Paralympic Games in Milano Cortina and fight for sport victory. We fight for peace during Paralympic Games."

Ukraine’s sports minister, Matvii Bidnyi, described the decision as "disappointing and outrageous".

He said, "The flags of Russia and ­Belarus have no place at international ­sporting events that stand for fairness, integrity, and respect. These are the flags of regimes that have turned sport into a tool of war, lies and contempt."

Bidnyi further said, "In Russia, Paralympic sport has been made a pillar for those whom Putin sent to Ukraine to kill – and who returned from Ukraine with injuries and disabilities. Giving them a platform means giving a voice to war propaganda. When the Russian flag is raised on the international stage, it becomes part of Russia’s propaganda machine."

He added, "It sends a message to the world that the war is ‘normal’. No, it is not ­normal. It is deeply outrageous that officials of the IPC refuse to ­understand this."

The IPC defended its decision, saying the ban was lifted democratically at its 2025 General Assembly:

“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.”

Craig Spence, IPC chief communications officer, explained, "They were suspended by the IPC then under our rules because they broke our independent rules by promoting the war through sport. The IPC no longer had evidence that Russia had been ‘promoting the war through sport over the last two years."

The decision drew international criticism. UK Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy said, "Allowing athletes from ­Russia and Belarus to compete under their own flags while the brutal ­invasion of Ukraine continues sends a ­terrible message. The IPC should reconsider this decision urgently."

Despite the boycott, Ukrainian athletes will still compete in the Games. Bipartite commission invitations, awarded by the IPC with recommendations from international federations such as FIS, allow top athletes affected by extraordinary circumstances to participate. Ukraine has received such slots in three sports.

Russian Paralympians expected to compete include three-time alpine skiing champion Aleksey Bugaev and world championship medallists Ivan Golubkov and Anastasiia Bagiian.

Sushkevych emphasized that skipping the opening ceremony does not mean withdrawal, "Exactly. We do not wish for Russian President Vladimir Putin to have a victory by forcing our withdrawal."