National Paralympic Committee President Valeriy Sushkevich announced that the International Paralympic Committee has banned Ukrainian Paralympians from wearing uniforms with the map of Ukraine at the 2026 Winter Paralympics. Ukrinform reports his words, as reported by Champion.com.ua. PromPolitInform reports.
According to representatives of the International Paralympic Committee, the team uniform featuring the map of Ukraine is politically charged.
“We prepared our team uniform—no, not even a uniform, but a dress uniform. The International Paralympic Committee said, ‘No, no, no—that won’t do!’ They said this uniform is politically charged. And they said no one will allow us to compete in such a uniform. This uniform was very beautiful, very symbolic, and very emphatically “shouted” that Ukraine existed in the world, in Europe, with all its territories unoccupied by Russia.
The map of Ukraine was globalized in form. It was created by our renowned designer, Viktor Anisimov, who also designed our uniforms for the Paris Paralympics (2024 Summer Paralympics – ed.). We then wore a uniform that had military accents, because in addition to blue and yellow, it featured the color our defenders wear on the front lines. It took us a long time to approve it, but we finally got it,” said the head of the NPC.
Sushkevich noted that, despite obstacles from the International Paralympic Committee, they managed to produce the new uniform.
“And now we were more radical. Our radicalism is explained by the fact that after Paris, this escalation of loyalty to ‘Russia’ occurred with renewed vigor, a new wave. “That is, the Paralympic bureaucrats are already there, guarding the situation to prevent Ukraine from declaring itself a country free from occupation and fighting in this uniform against an aggressor country.
We barely had time to produce new uniforms, barely. We rushed these new uniforms by bus to Italy, where our entire team is already located. They could have dressed the guys here in ready-made uniforms, but they banned us from wearing them. That’s the situation,” said Sushkevich.
The 4th anniversary competition will take place from March 5-16. Six Russian and four Belarusian para-athletes will participate in the Paralympics under their flags.
It’s worth noting that International Paralympic Committee (IPC) President Andrew Parsons stated that the decision to admit Russians and Belarusians is final, asking Ukraine and other countries that have announced a boycott of the opening ceremony to reconsider. At the same time, Valeriy Sushkevich, President of the Ukrainian National Paralympic Committee, stated that Paralympians would not boycott the competition, as this would only play into Putin’s hands.
It was previously reported that Ukraine would compete with a record-breaking team at the 2026 Paralympic Games.
