Statement of the National Paralympic Committee of Ukraine and the National Paralympic Team of Ukraine

TO THE INTERNATIONAL PARALYMPIC COMMITTEE

Statement of the National Paralympic Committee of Ukraine

and the National Paralympic Team of Ukraine

The National Paralympic Committee of Ukraine and the national Paralympic team of Ukraine are forced to state that from the very beginning of the XIV Winter Paralympic Games, the national Paralympic team of Ukraine, its athletes, and coaches have been subjected to systematic pressure from representatives of the International Paralympic Committee and the Organising Committee of the Games.

The leadership of the team and its members tried to avoid a radical reaction to the indicated manifestations of this pressure, hoping that they were of a random nature and did not have a biased direction in relation to the Ukrainian team.

However, recent events have shown that these manifestations have a systematic character and acquire a critical and shameful character in relation both to the team and to its members.

The Ukrainian Paralympic team has participated for 30 consecutive years in all Summer and Winter Paralympic Games. The team headquarters consists of professional and experienced managers and leaders who have awareness and appropriate knowledge of the provisions of the IPC Constitution and the regulations of Paralympic procedures.

But never before have our team and the leaders of the team headquarters experienced such openly negative manifestations and even obstacles in relation to Ukrainians as representatives of the National Paralympic Committee, which is one of the leaders in the development of the Paralympic movement and in results in Paralympic sports.

We are forced to provide a list of some of the indicated negative manifestations from representatives of the IPC and the Organising Committee:

1.  Ukrainian Paralympic team, with the permission of a representative of the Organising Committee, hung the Ukrainian flag on the building where it resides, which the team had hung on the buildings of residence at the last four Paralympic Games – without objections from the leadership of the IPC and the Organising Committee.

After some time following the placement of the flag, a representative of the Organising Committee appeared and forced it to be removed. To the question of the team leadership, why and on what specific basis of the regulations this was done, there was no answer.

For more than 2 days, representatives of the IPC constantly told us that they were thinking about where the Ukrainian team would be allowed to hang the flag on the building where the team resides.

Finally, the flag of Ukraine was allowed to be placed where it is less visible.

2.  Every evening, the team gathers for 10–15 minutes in the common hall of the building where we reside together with other teams for a short summary and determination of plans for the next day. And in connection with this – every day representatives of the Organising Committee and the IPC put pressure on the team and its members about the inadmissibility of this short meeting as something that is prohibited by an unclear document or regulation.

3.  At the medal ceremony of our champion Oleksandra Kononova, a representative of the IPC harshly tried to take away small earrings with the flag of Ukraine on which was written “Stop War”. Our champion was forced to remove the earrings without explaining what the danger of a women’s accessory was for the ceremony of awarding the medal to the champion of the Paralympic Games.

Oleksandra Kononova and the entire team remind the International Paralympic Committee THAT PEACE AND THE LIFE OF EVERY PERSON IS A HUMAN RIGHT! Moreover, Ukrainian athletes ask to remind the leadership of the IPC that according to the Resolution of the UN General Assembly, peace for world humanity is one of the main missions of the IOC and the IPC! And Ukrainian athletes also ask – do the leaders of the IPC want them and their families to live in peace, without wars?!!

4.  The national Paralympic team of Ukraine was especially shocked by the cynical and unlawful manifestation of representatives of the IPC and the Organising Committee in relation to the family of the champion and medalist of the XIV Winter Paralympics, Taras Rad. In connection with what happened, we ask the leaders of the IPC to take into account that exactly on the day of the beginning of the Paralympics‑2026 competitions russia marked it with a terrible bombing of the civilian population of Ukraine, launching just before the start of the competitions about 500 drones and 29 ballistic and cruise missiles at Ukraine. Thus, at the beginning of the sporting competitions of the Paralympics, the russian Paralympic Committee, together with the russian terrorist army, killed many civilians, women, children…

Overcoming russian bombardments, the Ukrainian family of Paralympian Taras Rad left the Ternopil region to support him in the struggle for a victorious Ukrainian result and perhaps in this way saved their lives on that day from the missile terror of russia.

The family of Taras Rad, consisting of eight people, bought tickets themselves and tried to get to the spectator tribune of the biathlon competitions to see their relative athlete in his struggle for victory.

Representatives of the IPC and the Organising Committee took away Ukrainian flags from the family of the champion; women of the family had neck scarves with Ukrainian national ornament taken away, and it was stated that this was done in accordance with the rules of the IPC.

The national Paralympic team of Ukraine is shocked by the unprecedentedly shameful manifestations of the IPC and its representatives of the Organising Committee of the Paralympics‑2026!

In the national team of Ukraine and in the National Paralympic Committee of Ukraine it has long been noticed the obvious growth of special loyalty of the IPC to the russian and belarusian Paralympic Committees and to their state representation in the international Paralympic movement as well as the respective violation of the basic provisions of the IPC Constitution in connection with the restoration of their membership in the IPC.

Today, during the Paralympics-2026, there are systemic and unprecedented manifestations of pressure from representatives of the IPC in relation to the Ukrainian team.

Obviously, there appears the impression of an incomprehensible and very special partnership of the IPC with the NPCs of russia and belarus.

Among the entire community of Paralympians of Ukraine and among our friends from NPCs of other countries, a question arises – on what is the indicated special partnership based? And is such a special partnership permissible at all in a situation when the whole civilized Europe and countries of the world draw attention to the inadmissibility of violations by the IPC of international law, the IPC Constitution, and the main ideas and philosophy of the international Paralympic movement?

The National Paralympic Committee of Ukraine demands from the leadership of the IPC to begin the process of returning to the provisions of the IPC Constitution, and in accordance with them, coordinate the activities of the executive bodies of the IPC during the implementation of their functions at the XIV Winter Paralympic Games.