Andrii Opikun, a team manager at the National Paralympic Committee (NPC) of Ukraine, has arrived in the Dutch city of Rotterdam with a 38-strong squad to compete at the inaugural edition of the European Para Championships.

Among those athletes is Artem Kolinko, a boccia player who is from the central Ukrainian town of Zhovti Vody.

Kolinko, who suffers with muscular dystrophy and has been a wheelchair user since the age of 12, was forced to flee his home with parents to find refugee in The Netherlands after Russia launched its military assault in February last year.

"Zhovti Vody is very close to the front line," Opikun told insidethegames.

"That’s why he lives in The Netherlands right now and is training there but cannot go home.

"He is in a wheelchair, he needs help every day but unfortunately he cannot go home."

Kolinko, a 2017 European bronze medallist, recalled how he took a 22-hour journey in a packed train with his mum and dad to go to Lviv in western Ukraine before taking a bus to cross the Polish border.

"It was stressful because you don’t know what will happen, your plan was changing every minute," said the 39-year-old.

"But we were very lucky.

"I miss home a lot and hope the war will finish and we can go back."

Opikun said Kolinko’s agonising decision to leave war-torn Ukraine and find another place to live was just one example of the distressing situation faced by his Para athletes.

"It’s very difficult," said Opikun.

"We are in a war, and it continues with Russians launching rockets every day.

"We have to go to safe places like neighbouring countries and some organisations like World Taekwondo invite us to training camps to help us prepare for events like this.

"Everyone has family, relatives or some connection to everything that is going on.

"Some athletes became homeless because their homes were destroyed and others have become displacement persons because their territories have been occupied by the Russian controlled forces.

"It’s very bad."

Russian and Belarusian athletes remain banned from international Para sport competition, with the IPC barring them from participating at the Beijing 2022 Winter Paralympics which started just 10 days after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

A decision was also taken at the IPC’s Extraordinary General Assembly last November to suspend the NPCs of Russia and Belarus.

IPC President Andrew Parsons revealed in April that the participation of Russian and Belarusian athletes would be re-assessed at its General Assembly, scheduled for September, but stressed that it need not be the "final decision".

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has moved to reintroduce Russians and Belarusians by recommending that they should be allowed to return to the global sporting stage under a neutral banner provided they do not support the war in Ukraine and are not affiliated with the military.

Opikun has urged the IPC not to follow the IOC’s stance, insisting it is "unfair" to allow Russians to compete when Ukraine remains under bombardment.

"I would ask ‘what does fair play mean?," said Opikun.

"Fair play means I can train like you and when we compete we can compete our forces and speed and whoever wins is first.

"That’s fair play but how can you say fair play in our situation where we cannot train at home, we cannot do our preparations because there are no places to train and there are no place to stay or live especially when 20 times every day we have alarms [sounding] about rocket launches.

"It’s emotionally [tough], like every day, it is very difficult.

"How after all that can we say this is fair play.

"I think it is not possible.

"Some federations have taken the decision that Russians cannot compete.

"It’s the right decision and I also think the International Paralympic Committee also needs to choose this line.

"So please let’s stop the war and then we can do something but right now it is not possible, it is not fair.

"I think we should still continue this way because the war is finished."

Opikun said many sporting facilities have been destroyed or lost in the war, including the Yevpatoria Paralympic training centre which Russia captured when it annexed Crimea in 2014.

According to the United Nations, more than 9,300 Ukrainian civilians have been killed and over 16,600 wounded since the escalation of the war in February 2022.

Opikun said the NPC of Ukraine would do all it could to help serviceman that have sustained life changing injuries to find a way back into sport.

"Every day we have a lot of soldiers that get injured and have to have amputation of limbs and some injure their backs and become wheelchair users," added Opikun.

"For now, they need some time for rehabilitation.

"After that, when they start looking for opportunities in sport we can provide them with that."