Ukraine will travel to China with a full team to compete at the Winter Paralympic Games despite the invasion of their country by Russia.
The International Paralympic Committee tweeted on Tuesday that Ukraine's team - which is composed of 20 athletes and nine guides - were heading to Beijing. The IPC tweeted a link to a Ukrainian media article about the team, which declared the athletes would travel to China from different locations in Ukraine, despite travel difficulties with airports damaged.
The article stated the full team of athletes will compete in just two sports - biathlon and cross-country skiing.
The IPC is set to meet on Wednesday to discuss the participation of Russian athletes in the Games, which officially begin on Friday.
On Monday, the International Olympic Committee's executive board recommended that international sports federations should exclude Russian and Belarusian athletes, teams and officials from international competitions.
Russian athletes were already set to compete in Beijing under the Russian Paralympic Committee banner as part of sanctions against the country for state-sponsored doping.
The British Paralympic Association issued a statement on Monday saying it could not see how allowing Russian or Belarusian athletes to compete in Beijing was in line with the objectives of the Paralympic movement.
Should the IPC opt to exclude Russian athletes, it will be another step towards isolating the country from the international sports community over the actions of its government.
Sporting organisations are also continuing to impose sanctions on Russia where possible, with Russian football clubs and national teams suspended from competitions by FIFA and UEFA for the foreseeable future. The Russian men's team will not play their World Cup play-off matches next month and the women's team have been banned from this summer's Euro 2022 competition, while Spartak Moscow have been kicked out of the Europa League.
UEFA has also ended its sponsorship with Russian energy giant Gazprom, while players' unions and national associations have also condemned Russia and urged bodies to impose sporting sanctions ahead of the joint FIFA-UEFA statement. The Scottish, Irish, Northern Irish, Welsh and English FAs all vowed to refuse to face Russia in any fixture.
Furthermore, Ukrainian world number 15 Elina Svitolina said she will refuse to play Russian or Belarusian players until they are classed as 'neutral athletes’, while the Ukrainian Tennis Federation has called on the International Tennis Federation (ITF) to expel Russia and Belarus from the organisation and ban Russia from individual and team tournaments.
Sergiy Stakhovsky, the former tennis player who has returned to Ukraine to take up arms, believes these moves will make a difference to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“He really loves sport and loves that Russia is successful in sport. He loves that he can demonstrate that success out in the world during the Olympics and all the other sport events,” Stakhovsky told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.
