European University Sports Association (EUSA) held an online meeting with its Member Associations on Thursday, February 9, 2023 to discuss the latest International Olympic Committee (IOC) ‘Statement on solidarity with Ukraine, sanctions against Russia and Belarus, and the status of athletes from these countries’.

The meeting was opened by the EUSA President Mr Adam Roczek. Mr Roczek presented the summary of the IOC Statement and the decisions of the EUSA Executive Committee, which took place on February 7, 2023, for an extraordinary meeting on the same topics.

The EUSA Executive Committee decided that the EUSA Solidarity Fund, established in 2022 to support the activities of the National University Sports Association of Ukraine, will also be maintained in 2023. EUSA Members, Organising Committees of the European Universities Championships 2023, and the entire university sports community are invited to contribute to the Solidarity Fund and to continue providing humanitarian support to Ukraine.

The measures taken by the EUSA Executive Committee in March 2022 remain unchanged:  
- the universities from Russia and Belarus and the representatives of the National University Sports Associations from Russia and Belarus are suspended from all the EUSA events until further notice,
- no EUSA events will be organised in Russia and Belarus until further notice,
- the Members of EUSA Committees, Commissions, and Working Groups from Russia and Belarus will not be called upon for future EUSA meetings and activities,
- the concept of Neutral Athletes will not be implemented in the EUSA competitions.

After the decisions were presented, prof. Yevgenij Imas, the President of the National University Sports Association of Ukraine thanked EUSA and its Member countries for all the support and solidarity to Ukraine, and decisions which have been made since the start of the war in his country.

In the discussion that followed, the representatives of EUSA Member Federations expressed their full support to the decisions made by the EUSA Executive Committee. EUSA remains in solidarity with Ukraine and will closely monitor the situation in Ukraine and will take additional measures, if required.