Officials from Ukraine and the European Union will not attend the Paralympic Games due to the participation of Russians and Belarusians in the competitions under their national flags. This was announced by Ukrainian Minister of Youth and Sports Matviy Bedny and European Commissioner for Intergenerational Justice, Youth, Culture, and Sport Glenn Micallef, according to Fakty. PromPolitInform reports.
The EU and Ukraine will boycott the opening ceremony of the Paralympic Games.
According to the Minister of Youth and Sports, Ukrainian officials will not attend the Paralympic Games due to the organizers’ outrageous decision to allow Russian and Belarusian citizens to compete under their national flags.
“We will not attend the opening ceremony or other official Paralympic events. We thank every official from the free world who will also ignore the official Paralympic events. “We continue the fight,” Bedny noted.
European Commissioner for Youth, Culture, and Sport Glenn Micallef officially announced his boycott of the opening ceremony of the Paralympic Games in Milan-Cortina.
The reason for this decision was the reinstatement of the national symbols of Russia and Belarus, as well as the granting of “wild cards” to their athletes to participate without pre-qualification.
Micallef called the restoration of the status of the anthems and flags of the aggressor states unacceptable while the war against Ukraine continues. He emphasized that his absence from the ceremony is a matter of principle and called on his EU colleagues to support his position.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiha stated that allowing the flags of aggressor states to be raised at the Paralympic Games while Russia’s war against Ukraine continues is wrong from both a moral and political perspective.
“The decision to allow Russia and Belarus to participate under their national symbols ignores a simple truth: these flags and anthems represent regimes that wage aggression, destroy cities, and use sport as a weapon for propaganda.” “They cannot be separated from the crimes committed under their flag,” he asserts.
In his opinion, sport should uphold justice, dignity, and respect, and therefore cannot become a platform for regimes that despise these values.
The minister instructed Ukrainian ambassadors to negotiate with government officials in the host countries and urge them not to participate in the opening ceremony unless this shameful decision is reversed.
The International Paralympic Committee recently announced that six Russian and four Belarusian athletes will be allowed to compete at the 2026 Games in Milan-Cortina under their national flags.
