Russian, Belarusian athletes to compete under own flag at Paralympics 2026

Ukraine reacts angrily to the International Paralympic Committee’s decision, saying the move was ‘disappointing and outrageous’.

Ukraine has slammed the move to allow Russian and Belarusian athletes to compete under their own national flags at the Milano Cortina Winter Paralympics 2026 and overturn the ban imposed after Russia’s 2022 invasion.

Russia and Belarus will have a combined 10 para-athletes at next month’s Paralympics, the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) said in a ⁠statement on Tuesday.

“The decision by the @Paralympics organisers to allow killers and their accomplices to compete at the Paralympic Games under national flags is both disappointing and outrageous,” Ukraine’s Sports Minister Matvii Bidnyi wrote on social media.

Russian and Belarusian flags “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,” he added.

Attacking President Vladimir Putin, Bidnyi 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.”