The Ukrainian national team decided not to participate in the closing ceremony of the 2026 Paralympic Games, reports Suspilne. Sport" The reason was the presence at the event of delegations from Russia and Belarus, who were allowed to compete under their own flags.

At the start of the Games, the Ukrainian team also completely ignored the opening ceremony due to the presence of representatives from Russia and Belarus. In addition to Ukraine, delegations from 15 more countries did not come to the celebrations..

On the eve of the final competition day, Paralympian Grigory Vovchinsky, in a commentary for Suspilne Sport, said: the decision on a possible boycott of the closing ceremony should have been made at a general meeting of the team.

According to him, the position of Ukrainian athletes is “100% understandable”, since they do not take part in countries that continue the war against Ukraine, and he personally “does not want to compete so that there are athletes from killer countries nearby.”.

At the 2026 Paralympic Games, the Ukrainian team won 17 awards, including three golds.. The team takes seventh place in the medal standings.

It should be noted that during the opening parade at PI-2026, spectators booed the Russian delegation, which walked through the arena with its national flag.