Less than a week after Ukrainian skeleton slider Vladyslav Heraskevych was banned from the Olympics for wearing a helmet honouring the Ukrainian athletes, some of them children, whom Russia has killed, Russian sportsman have received formal permission to take part in the Paralympics, under the Russian flag. Should they win, Russia will undoubtedly broadcast live its propaganda victory as the sportsmen are handed their medals under the Russian national anthem. Even if, for the present, only six Russian athletes are competing, none of whom earlier fought against Ukraine, the message sent is shocking. It can only get worse as Pavel Rozhkov, president of the Russian Paralympic Committee [RPC], has already stated that involving so-called ‘veterans’ of what he follows the regime in calling Russia’s ‘special military operation’ is “one of the most important and serious directions for the RPI”. In his address on 1 January 2026, Rozhkov spoke of over 500 ‘veterans’ taking part in teams, with over 30 in national teams. These will be the ‘sportsmen’ allowed to take part in future Paralympics, because ‘hey, we’re not political”.
Heraskevych, meanwhile, was banned from taking part in the Winter Olympics because he was unwilling to renounce his remembrance of athletes whom Russia had killed. They included Karyna Bakhur, a kickboxing champion, who was killed in a Russian airstrike on civilians in Kharkiv oblast only weeks before her 18th birthday. Vitaliy Bakhur says he was very touched that Vladyslav Heraskevych had remembered his daughter in this way. “It is in the first instance remembrance of children who have been killed.” He is outraged that this could have been banned and dismisses any suggestion of a political message. “Children were simply depicted, that is memory!”.
The same cannot be said for Russia’s reinstatement in any Olympic games under its own flags. It was announced on 17 February that six Russian sportsmen and four from Belarus are to represent Russia at the Winter Paralympics from 6 – 15 March. This follows the decision by the International Paralympic Committee in September 2025 to lift its ban on the participation of a country that was and still is bombing, killing and maiming civilians on a daily basis in Ukraine (as well as the ban on Belarus, its accomplice in war crimes). The BBC explains that the four individual governing bodies in charge of the six sports contested at the Paralympics decided to keep their bans in place, however both Russia and Belarus managed to win an appeal against one of these decisions, that of the governing body for skiing and snowboarding. Worth noting that they won their appeal at the same Court of Arbitration for Sport, or CAS, which, on 13 February, upheld the ban against Heraskevych’s participation in the Winter Olympics because he refused to give up his helmet of remembrance.
The International Paralympic Committee [IPC] have said that the Russian and Belarusian athletes “ will be "treated like athletes from any other country.”. They will presumably make the same boast when the next ‘Russian national team’ includes men who fought in Ukraine, quite possibly from among those recruited from prison and pardoned by Russian leader Vladimir Putin for killing Ukrainians. Will it be Ukrainians who are sent home when they refuse to shake hands with such ‘veterans’ or to stand and listen to the Russian national anthem?
Heraskevych is not alone in warning that Russia will use this occasion for its own propaganda. In his message on Instagram, he said: “Yesterday they killed Ukrainians in Ukraine, and tomorrow they will continue doing that by circulating Russian propaganda at an international level.”
Although the six athletes from Russian named on 17 February do not include former fighters, Rozhkov asserted in September 2025 that the Russian Paralympic team included around thirty such ‘veterans’.
He has also repeatedly demonstrated how closely linked his organization’s activities are with Russia’s aggression. During an award-giving ceremony on 1 March 2023, Rozhkov spoke of the number of athletes who had taken part in earlier wars / Russian invasions, and how they, together with the RPC management, meet with men who have ended up in military hospitals after fighting against Ukraine. Rozhkov expresses his “sincere gratitude” to Russian leader Vladimir Putin, to the Russian government, etc.
Suspilne has tracked down some of the sportsmen who took part in Russia’s war against Ukraine and who are now hoping to become part of a national Paralympic team. While some, like Ivan Shiryaev, were in Ukraine because they were mobilized, others, like 49-year-old Vladyslav Shinkar, began fighting against Ukraine in 2014, and now takes part in wheelchair fencing and pro-war propaganda. In an interview from December 2025, he claimed that the world would change very soon and that “those lads who defended the fatherland [sic!] at the front, will defend Russia’s honour in international competitions.”
Shinkar is not among the six named by Rozhkov on 17 February, however in 2024 Rozhkov stated that he had become part of the paralympic team. He is one of several Russians who, judging by the interviews which Suspilne cites, combines sport training and Paralympic aspirations with pro-war, pro-regime propaganda. The list also includes Tsiden Geninov, from Russia’s 5th Separate Guards Tatsinskaya Red Banner Order of Suvorov Tank Brigade, which is believed to have taken part in Russia’s 2022 invasion and occupation of Bucha.
The International Paralympic Committee’s decision is an incomprehensible propaganda gift to an aggressor state waging war against Ukraine and all of its citizens and an affront to its victims.
The athletes honoured on Vladyslav Heraskevych’s helmet:
Alina Perehudova was 14 and a weightlifter, when she was killed during Russia’s shelling of Mariupol in 2022
Karyna Diachenko was 11 and a talented gymnast. She was killed by a Russian bomb which struck her home in Mariupol in 2022, killing her and her father. Her mother and brother were taken to a hospital, where they were killed when the Russians struck again.
Victoria Ivashko was 9 and involved in judo. She was killed in a Russian air strike on Kyiv in June 2023.
Mariya Lebid was 15 and a dancer, as well as heading her school’s student council. She was killed by a Russian air strike on a high-rise apartment block in Dnipro on 14 January 2023.
Nazar Zui was 13 and passionate about boxing and football. He and his parents were killed in a Russian air strike on the apartment block in Mariupol where they were seeking shelter.
Daria Kurdel was a 20-year-old dancer who had won several international dance competitions. She was killed in a Russian air strike on Kryvyi Rih in July 2022
Volodymyr Androshchuk was 22, and a promising decathlete
Oleksiy Khabarov was 31 and held national records and had been a Ukrainian national shooting champion.
Maksym Halinchev was 22 and a boxer. He volunteered after Russia began its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, saying that he did not want his small child to grow up under Russian occupation
Pavlo Ishchenko was 33 and a powerlifter, a former Ukrainian powerlifting champion
Mykola Kozubenko was 31, a diver and coach
Oleksiy Lohinov was 23 and the former goalkeeper of the Ukrainian professional ice hockey team, Bilyi Bars
Andriy Kutsenko was 34 and a track cyclist who had been living in Italy with his family but returned to Ukraine after Russia’s full-scale invasion. He was killed in action in 2024
Yevhen Malyshev was 19 and was killed in defending Ukraine in Kharkiv oblast in 2022. He had taken part in the 2020 Winter Youth Olympics as a biathlete
Roman Polishchuk was 29 and a track and field athlete, specializing in high jumping. He volunteered when Russia began its full-scale invasion of Ukraine and was killed in action in March 2023
Dmytro Sharpar was 25 and a figure skater. He was killed near Bakhmut in 2023
Taras Shpuk was 34. He joined a volunteer battalion in 2014 and later became a coach for the Invictus Games. He volunteered again after Russia’s full-scale invasion, and was killed in September 2025
Kateryna Troyan was 32 and a former professional track and field athlete. She was killed near Pokrovsk in June 2025, having operated drones on more than a thousand combat missions
Andriy Yaremenko was 25 and a member of Ukraine’s national wrestling team. He was killed in December 2025 during a combat mission.
Fedir Yepifanov had been national fencing champion, but enlisted, aged just 18, after Russia’s full-scale invasion. He was killed at the front in 2023
