Zelenskyy condemns decision to let Russians and Belarusians compete under national flags at 2026 Paralympics

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has criticised the organisers of the 2026 Paralympic Games for allowing Russian and Belarusian athletes to compete under their national flags.

Source: Zelenskyy in an interview with British journalist Piers Morgan

Details: Zelenskyy said that Ukraine will respond to what he called a "dirty" and unjust decision.

Quote: "I don't want to say it's about money, because I don't know. But it's [a] dirty decision, absolutely, not respectable, and not European – from the point of values. I think this is [an] awful decision, absolutely…And [an unjust] decision. We will react.

It's like the Russian way of life, how they began this aggression. It is… a creeping occupation. Crimea – nobody answered, nobody gave a kick? Okay. Donbas – nobody's answering, nobody's putting sanctions? Okay. Full-scale invasion. Step by step, the Russian way of life. The same with Olympic Games."

More details: The Milan Cortina Winter Paralympics will take place from 6 to 15 March. Matvii Bidnyi, Ukraine's Minister of Youth and Sport, said earlier he was disappointed that 10 athletes from Russia and Belarus are set to compete at the 2026 Paralympics.

Background:

• In September 2025, the International Paralympic Committee fully reinstated the Russian Paralympic Committee. Russian athletes were given six spots and Belarusian athletes four.
• This will be the first time the Russian flag has been raised at the Paralympics since the 2014 Sochi Games. Russians did not compete under their own flag in 2018 and 2022 because of a state doping scandal and Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

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