Ukraine Boycotts the Opening of the 2026 Winter Paralympics in Milan-Cortina

The opening ceremony of the 2026 Winter Paralympics in Italy will be boycotted by Ukraine (doc. IPC).

JAKARTA - Ukrainian officials have decided to boycott the opening ceremony of the 2026 Winter Paralympics in Milan-Cortina, Italy, after six Russian athletes and four Belarusian athletes were allowed to appear with their respective national flags.

The Ukrainian Minister of Sports, Matvii Bidnyi, said that the decision made by the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) was "very disappointing and outrageous" amid the unresolved conflict situation between Russia and its allies against Ukraine.

"Russian and Belarusian flags have no place in international sporting events that uphold justice, integrity, and respect," Bidnyi said in response to the IPC's decision, as reported by The Guardian.

Bidnyi ensured that Ukrainian officials would not attend the opening ceremony or any other official event as a form of protest against the IPC.

In addition, he also urged the IPC to reconsider the policy before the four-year sports festival which begins on March 6, 2026.

"It is the flag of a regime that has made sport a tool of war, lies, and humiliation."

"In Russia, Paralympic sports have become a pillar for those Putin sent to Ukraine to kill and those who returned from Ukraine with wounds and disabilities," he said.

Since the 2014 Sochi Olympics and Paralympics, the Russian flag and national anthem have not been flown due to the state-sponsored doping scandal and the invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

However, in September 2025, the IPC lifted the ban, paving the way for Russian and Belarusian athletes to return to compete with their national symbols.

Bidnyi stressed that Russian athletes and para-athletes are considered to glorify war and receive awards from the state, so it is not surprising that Ukraine has imposed sanctions on sports propagandists, the Russian Paralympic Committee, and its president, Pavel Rozhkov.

"Giving them a stage means voting for war propaganda. When the Russian flag is raised on the international stage, it becomes part of the Russian propaganda machine and sends a message that war is normal," he said.

Russian news agency TASS reported that three-time Paralympic alpine skiing champion Aleksey Bugaev, along with cross-country skier Ivan Golubkov and World Championship medallist Anastasiia Bagiian, have received invitations to depart for Milan-Cortina.

The three will compete again in January. Bugaev and Bagiian have even won the World Cup title, opening up the possibility that the Russian national anthem will ring out next month.

The British Minister of Culture, Lisa Nandy, also spoke out after the IPC issued this controversial decision. He also urged the body to review the decision.

"Allowing athletes from Russia and Belarus to compete under their own flag while the brutal invasion of Ukraine is still underway sends a very bad message," he wrote on social media X.