Ukrainian officials to boycott Winter Paralympics over 'outrageous' decision to allow Russia to compete under flag

Ukrainian officials will boycott next month's Milano Cortina Winter Paralympics over the participation of ​Russian and Belarusian ‌athletes who have been cleared ​to compete under their flags.

Russia ​and Belarus will ​have a combined 10 athletes at next month's ⁠Winter Paralympics following Tuesday's ​decision by the International ​Paralympic Committee (IPC).

Ukrainian athletes will still take ‌part in the 6-15 March Paralympic Games, but the country's sports minister, Matviy Bidnyi, said no Ukraine official would be at the opening ceremony - ⁠or any event ​of the Games.

Mr Bidnyi said: "In response to the outrageous decision to let Russians and Belarusians compete under their national flags, Ukrainian public officials will not attend the Paralympic Games.

"We will not be present at the opening ceremony. We will not take part in any other official Paralympic events.

"We thank every official from the free world who will do the same. We will keep fighting!"

On Tuesday, the UK Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport posted that the decision to allow the participation of the two countries was the completely "wrong decision".

"Allowing athletes from Russia and Belarus to compete under their own flags while the brutal invasion of Ukraine continues sends a terrible message," Lisa Nandy said, urging the committee to urgently reconsider the decision.

The IPC's decision comes after Russia was twice banned from the games, first in 2016 over a state-sponsored doping scheme, and then in 2022 due to the full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

The IPC president Andrew Parsons spoke with Sky's sports correspondent Rob Harris last year, claiming that Russian participation in the games was "not linked to participation in wars".

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"Russia and Belarus, they used Paralympic sport to promote what they called the 'special operation' at the time," he said in an interview.

"And this is what led to the first suspension, the suspension in 2023. Between 2023 and now... there is less evidence of that being used again for the promotion of the war."

The UK and 32 mainly European countries signed a joint statement expressing "serious concern" after IPC members voted to lift the partial suspensions of Russia and Belarus in September.

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