Ukrainian flag carried at Paralympics opening despite Kyiv’s request
2026 Winter Paralympic Games (Photo: REUTERS/Remo Casilli)
The Ukrainian flag was carried into the arena during the 2026
Winter Paralympic Games opening
ceremony in Verona, Italy, after Ukraine’s National Paralympic Committee asked
that it not be used.
Ukraine is boycotting the Verona opening ceremony to protest
the decision to allow Russian and Belarusian athletes to compete under their
national flags. Sixteen countries have joined Ukraine’s boycott.
Six Russian and four Belarusian Paralympic athletes will compete under their national flags at events staged in Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo. In February, Ukraine announced it would not attend the opening ceremony and, working with its embassies in Europe, urged other countries and their Paralympic committees to show support by refusing to participate.
In September 2025, the International Paralympic Committee’s
General Assembly voted to fully restore the membership of the Russian and
Belarusian Paralympic committees, reinstating those countries’ flags and
anthems for the 2026 Games. The Paralympics in Italy run March 6-16, 2026.
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