In brief
- Both Russia and Belarus were subject to a blanket ban at the 2022 Winter Paralympics in Beijing.
- "It is a dirty decision, absolutely and not respectable, not European," Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said.
Ukrainian officials will boycott the Milano Cortina Winter Paralympics next month over the participation of a handful of Russian and Belarusian athletes who've been cleared to compete under their country's flags.
Ukraine's athletes will still take part in the Paralympics from 6 to 15 March, but Ukraine's sports minister Matvii Bidnyi said no Ukrainian official would be at the opening ceremony or any Games event, and he urged other countries to follow suit.
"In response to the Paralympics organisers' outrageous decision to let russians and belarusians compete under their national flags, Ukrainian officials will not attend the Paralympic Games," Bidnyi said on social media.
"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!"
Six Russians and four Belarusians will be allowed to take part under their own flags at the upcoming Paralympics rather than as neutral athletes, and the national anthems will be played for any gold medallists.
Russia will have two spots in para alpine skiing, two in cross-country skiing and two in snowboarding, while Belarus' places are all in cross-country skiing.
"It is a dirty decision, absolutely and not respectable, not European," Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said, speaking on Piers Morgan Uncensored.
"I think this is an awful decision ... and not just. We will react."
Why were Russia and Belarus previously banned?
Russia was excluded from Olympic and Paralympic competitions after its 2022 invasion of Ukraine, as was Belarus, which served as a key staging area for Russian troops.
Both countries were subject to a blanket ban at the 2022 Winter Paralympics in Beijing. The Beijing Winter Olympics had finished days before Russia's full-scale invasion.
At the 2024 Paris Games, a small number of Russian and Belarusian athletes were permitted to compete as individual neutral athletes, known as AIN, an abbreviation of the French term 'athlètes individuels neutres'.
Athletes competing as AIN don't compete under their country's flags.
A limited number of Russians and Belarusians are competing as individual neutral athletes at the Milano Cortina Winter Olympics, with the Olympic committees of the two nations still sanctioned by the International Olympic Committee (IOC).
The International Paralympic Committee (IPC)'s decision came amid already heightened tensions between Ukraine and the IOC, which oversees the Winter Olympics currently underway.
The IOC banned Ukrainian skeleton racer Vladyslav Heraskevych for refusing to ditch a helmet depicting victims of the war with Russia.
What has changed?
Russia and Belarus regained full membership rights in the IPC after member organisations voted in September 2025 to lift their partial suspensions.
International federations for each sport on the Paralympic Games program said they would maintain bans on athletes from those countries, but Russia and Belarus won an appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport in December against the International Ski and Snowboard Federation.
The European commissioner for sport Glenn Micallef said he would also not be attending this year's Paralympics opening ceremony.
"First allowing Russia and Belarus to return and now granting a wild card and fast-tracking participation without qualification? This is unacceptable," Micallef said on social media.
"While Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine continues, I cannot support the reinstatement of national symbols, flags, anthems and uniforms, that are inseparable from that conflict. For this reason, I will not attend the Paralympics Opening Ceremony. I call on my like-minded counterparts to take the same stand," he said.
Poland's sports ministry said it would also stay away from the ceremony.
"In the face of the ongoing Russian aggression against Ukraine, the participation of athletes from Russia and Belarus in sporting competition using their flags and anthems is absolutely unacceptable," it said on social media.
Belarusian alpine skier Maria Shkanova, competing as a neutral at the Winter Olympics, welcomed the IPC decision.
"I think it's fair," Shkanova told reporters.
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