Sports Diplomacy: Ukrainian Team Wears 'Too Military and Political' Uniforms at the Paralympic Games Opening in Paris

At the opening ceremony of the 17th Summer Paralympic Games in Paris, Ukrainian Paralympic athletes marched into the main sports arena wearing national uniforms that the International Paralympic Committee had refused to approve for more than two months, claiming that they were too political and had too military a design.

‘Pay attention to this uniform, because for more than two months, officials of the International Paralympic Committee refused to approve it, saying that we made the Ukrainian uniform too political. They strictly forbade the map of a sovereign, independent Ukraine on the uniform, but we pushed through our demands that Ukraine in its internationally recognised borders be on our uniform. They claimed that our uniforms were too military in design and banned the additional green-military colour that appeared on our uniforms,’ said Valeriy Sushkevych, President of the National Paralympic Committee of Ukraine.

‘We were able to prove our legal case and the Ukrainian perception of all the colours of our uniforms! And you, our fans - UKRAINIANS, will definitely understand the deeply modern and national philosophy of our uniform at the highest sports forum of the quadrennium!’ - he added.

At a press conference before the start of the competition, the President of the National Paralympic Committee of Ukraine reminded that the day before the start of the 2024 Paralympic Games, Russia launched its largest missile bomb attack on Ukraine. 

The following is the direct speech.

‘For more than 10 hours, Russia fired 127 missiles and 109 drones at peaceful cities and towns in Ukraine. Russia has spent $1.3 billion on this missile and bomb attack on almost the entire territory!

On the eve of the Olympic and Paralympic Games, the international Olympic and Paralympic community talked about the possibility of an Olympic truce. French President Macron spoke about these hopes and called for them.

But Russia is once again, as it has been doing for the past 16 years, starting wars during the Olympic and Paralympic Games. They do it especially cynically during the Paralympic Games, because the consequence of any war is exactly 1000s and 1000s of people with disabilities.

And the cynicism of Russia is precisely in the fact that it has always, ignoring the high humanism of the international Paralympic movement, accentuated wars, murders and violence at the beginning of the Paralympic Games.

Dear colleagues, dear representatives of the European and world media!

The boundlessness of Russia's cynicism has once again been manifested today in this massive, most terrible missile and bomb attack in the entire war, which experts predict will continue and intensify throughout the next week - that is, throughout the entire Paralympics in Paris.

My question to the entire Paralympic community is: do we not notice this?’ 

At the end of his speech, Valeriy Sushkevich asked a question: will the 17th Paralympic Games and the 33rd Olympic Games be the last in the history of mankind? After all, today the Russian leadership is threatening to start a nuclear war.

 ‘Today, Russia has put the world on the verge of eliminating world civilisation and destroying humanity! That is why I ask you to pay attention to the fact that the leaders of the civilised countries of the world are joining forces, making efforts to use all the possibilities to ensure peace in Europe and the world, to prevent World War III,’ said the President of the National Paralympic Committee of Ukraine.

Ukraine will be represented by 140 athletes competing in 17 out of the 22 sports featured at the XVII Summer Paralympic Games in Paris. The largest contingent of Ukrainian Paralympians will participate in swimming, with 37 athletes, followed by 28 in athletics.