Ukrainian team prevented from wearing jacket with map of Ukraine at Paralympics in Italy

The International Paralympic Committee considers the jacket political and in violation of the rules, the Ukrainian Paralympic Committee stated, according to the Kyiv Independent.

The map on the jacket includes areas occupied by Russia, the newspaper writes.

Unlike at the Olympics, Russian and Belarusian para athletes will be allowed to compete under their national flags at the Paralympics. This has prompted the Ukrainian team to boycott the opening ceremony in Verona on Friday.

At the Olympics in Italy in February, Ukrainian skeleton racer Vladyslav Heraskevych was banned by the International Olympic Committee because he wanted to compete in a helmet with images of Ukrainian war victims.