Ukraine Competes with 35 Athletes in Invictus Games 2025

The Invictus Games 2025, an international competition for military and veterans, has started in Canada. This year, Ukraine is represented by 35 participants from 14 regions, including Oleksiy Horb, a junior sergeant from the Armed Forces of Ukraine in Kherson Oblast.

According to the Kherson Regional Military Commissariat, Oleksiy was wounded in March 2023 while performing a combat mission near the village of Ploshchanka in Luhansk region.

"Before the war, he led an active lifestyle and hopes that participation in the competition will help him return to it," the Kherson Regional Military Administration said.

This year's competition will take place from February 8 to 16 in Vancouver and Whistler. Participants from 22 countries will compete in 11 adaptive sports, including swimming, sitting volleyball, and wheelchair basketball. For the first time in the history of the Invictus Games, the program will include winter disciplines such as alpine skiing, biathlon, skeleton and wheelchair curling.

These are the seventh Invictus Games, which were launched by British Prince Harry in 2014. This is the fifth time Ukraine has participated in these competitions. For the first time, Ukraine was granted the right to participate in the Invictus Games in 2017 in Toronto as a NATO ally in peacekeeping operations around the world, as well as because of the ATO in eastern Ukraine.

Earlier, a veteran Yevhen Kaus, who will represent Odesa region at the Invictus Games as part of the national team, was presented at the Odesa Barrier-Free Council. Other members of the Ukrainian national team from Odesa region include Oleksiy Vasyliev, an Armed Forces soldier who was injured in Bakhmut, Ilya Pylypenko, a sailor who was injured in a tank explosion near Bilohirka, and Oleksiy Prytula, a senior soldier who was injured in Yampolivka.

Meanwhile, little Oleksandra Paskal, who uses a prosthetic leg, became the star of the Rizatdinova Cup gymnastics tournament. The girl lost her leg as a result of a Russian missile attack on Zatoka in Odesa region. The tournament was organized by world champion and Olympic medalist Anna Rizatdinova with the support of the Rhythmic Gymnastics Federation of Ukraine.

Олеся Ланцман