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Led by national paralympic committee president Valerii
Sushkevych, the entire 20-member delegation held up a "peace for
all" message, accompanied by raised fists.
"This one minute is about the thousands of people, including
children and others with disabilities, back in Ukraine," said
Sushkevych. "If mankind is civilised, then this war must be
stopped. People, women and children deserve to live, not die."
Head coach Andriy Nesterenko said that many cities had been
destroyed and added that seven members of the team belonged to
Kharkiv, which has been under siege by Russian forces.
"The Russians have bombed many hospitals and schools ... we need
your support today, not later. People who attack civilian areas
cannot be human ... we kindly ask for a safe sky over Ukraine."
Russia calls its action in Ukraine a "special operation" and it
denies firing on civilians.
Ukraine have thrived at the Paralympics despite almost not
making it to the Chinese capital because of the war, claiming
six gold medals to sit third in the table behind hosts China and
Canada.
Teams from Russia and Belarus, which has been a key staging area
for Russian forces, were not allowed to take part.
(Reporting by Dhruv Munjal; Editing by Robert Birsel)
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