Ukrainian skeleton athlete Vladyslav Heraskevych trained on Monday at the Winter Olympics in a helmet with images of compatriots killed during the war in Ukraine, delivering on a promise to use the event to keep attention on the conflict.

“Some of them were my friends,” Heraskevych, who is his country’s flag bearer, said after his training session at the Cortina sliding centre.

Visible on the helmet are the teenage weightlifter Alina Perehudova, boxer Pavlo Ischenko, ice hockey player Oleksiy Loginov, actor and athlete Ivan Kononenko, diving athlete and coach Mykyta Kozubenko, shooter Oleksiy Habarov and dancer Daria Kurdel.

The 26-year-old said the International Olympic Committee had contacted Ukraine’s Olympic committee over his helmet. “It’s still being processed,” he said.

Heraskevych, who held up a “No War in Ukraine” sign at the Beijing Olympics days before Russia’s 2022 invasion, had said he intended to respect Olympic rules prohibiting political demonstrations at venues while still ensuring Ukraine’s plight remained visible during the Games.

Rule 50.2 of the Olympic Charter states: “No kind of demonstration or political, religious or racial propaganda is permitted in any Olympic sites, venues or other areas.” Neither the IOC nor the Ukrainian committee had any immediate comment on Heraskevych’s case.

Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, athletes from the invading country and its ally Belarus were largely barred from international sport, but the IOC has since backed their gradual return under strict conditions.