Met Office issues weather warnings for snow as temperatures to plunge

Outbreaks of rain, sleet, and snow have been forecast across swathes of the UK as multiple weather warnings come into force.

The two yellow alerts will be in place in Scotland and northern England from Thursday evening, bringing freezing temperatures, up to 10cm of snow and possible travel disruption, with a cold health alert issued.

However, there could be a brief respite from the incessant rain that has battered the country in recent weeks.

The Met Office issued a yellow snow and ice warning for Scotland from 4pm Thursday, and for areas in East Midlands, North East England, North West England, West Midlands, and Yorkshire and Humber from 7pm. Both warnings are set to be lifted at midday on Friday.

Chief forecaster Jason Kelly said: “Any settling snow will mainly be confined to high ground. Locations of above 200 metres in Scotland and northern England may see 2-5cm of snow, but those locations above 300 metres may see double those amounts, up to 10 cm.

“As the rain and snow clears south, temperatures will fall quickly under the clear skies which could lead to ice forming on untreated surfaces.”

Some roads and railways are likely to be affected, with travel potentially delayed. The Met Office also warned of injuries and falls from slips.

With temperatures on Thursday and Friday expected to plunge below 0C in some areas, the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) has issued a cold health alert.

From 6am on Friday to 8am on Monday, regions including the East Midlands, North East, North West, West Midlands and Yorkshire and Humber will be under the alert.

In Cumnock, East Ayrshire, temperatures could drop to as low as -4C on Friday night.

The agency said the weather was likely to have minor impacts on health and social care services, including an increased use of healthcare services by vulnerable people, who face a greater risk to life.

Met Office spokesman Grahame Madge said: “There is an Arctic Maritime airmass that will be moving south during this week, bringing a colder influence to the UK’s weather.

“This colder spell is likely to be brief, as longer-range indications are from later in the weekend that the weather will be more dominated by Atlantic conditions.”

Today

Rain in the north pushes southwards, allowing brighter skies to develop across Scotland. Snow showers however in the northeast. Persistent rain in Wales and southeast England with hill snow across northern England. Sunny spells in southwest. Turning cold further north.

Tonight

Rain and hill snow pushes southwards slowly with clearer spells developing in the north. Widespread frost and icy patches developing. Variable cloud in the south with the odd heavy shower.

Friday

Rain continues to move southwards with Northern Ireland and Scotland seeing some sunshine. Snow showers around the coasts. Staying cloudy and wet across the south but eventually clears later.

Outlook for Saturday to Monday

Bright skies with sunny spells on Saturday but feeling much colder than in recent days. Turing wetter on Sunday with widespread snow likely across the north. Unsettled into next week.

Pam Bondi has fully drunk the Kool-Aid. Her latest Epstein files hearing proves it

Under the fluorescent glare of a congressional hearing room, Attorney General Pam Bondi spent Wednesday morning performing the particular genre of evasive tap-dance now required of anyone running the Trump Justice Department (DOJ).

Lawmakers were there to ask about — among other heinous things — the Epstein files. Bondi was there to talk as if she were on cable news and engage in a light piece of performance art.

In the audience were several Epstein victims. At one point, those survivors of sexual abuse stood up and identified themselves. It was a particularly painful back-and-forth: Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) asked the Epstein victims to stand if they were comfortable. They did. She then asked them to raise their hands if they’d been unable to meet with Bondi’s DOJ, and every one of them did so.

Asked whether she’d like to apologize for such an oversight, Bondi then started talking over Jayapal, repeatedly saying that she should ask Biden’s AG, Merrick Garland, instead. She never once glanced back at the victims and eventually ended up at: “I’m not gonna get in the gutter for [Jayapal’s] theatrics.” The Epstein victims remained unacknowledged.

Even for Bondi, this was an eye-opening performance.

“The Dow is over $50,000!” she yelled at one point, before adding, after the shocked laughter of Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), “I don’t know why you’re laughing! You’re a great stock trader, as I hear, Raskin… That’s what we should be talking about!”

Indeed, indeed, that is what we should be talking about. Sure, we could ask about emails that describe children — possibly as young as nine years old — being sexually abused on a secret pedophile island visited frequently by international elites. Emails that say things like “loved the torture video”. Emails that should have been released long ago, that the president promised to release as soon as he came into power, and that for some reason he just… didn’t, until they started appearing anyway, still heavily redacted. But why not instead discuss EMAILS ABOUT HOW MY SHARES IN BOEING ARE UP, AMIRITE, PAM?!

At one point during the hearing, exasperated by the fact that Bondi wouldn’t even directly answer a question about whether it’s important to protect the identities of sexual assault victims, Rep. Hank Johnson (D-Ga.) said, “You do a kind of Jekyll and Hyde routine over here.” Bondi immediately tried to drag him into a back-and-forth about what Jekyll and Hyde “means” (I’m going to charitably assume here that she is aware of the book) and we never really got to the bottom of anything else.

And so it went on. Quizzed about the handling of Epstein files, about immigration raids, about the arrests and detentions of US citizens and children and the presence of federal agents on the streets, Bondi remained, confusingly, aggrieved. She hit back at questioners, asking why they hadn’t asked the same things of Merrick Garland when he was in power. She refused to answer even basic “yes” or “no” questions, instead insisting that she’d “said it all before.”

It became clear, very quickly, that this was another exercise in protecting the legacy of Donald Trump. The victims were just another inconvenient fact. Everything was a potential threat to presidential legacy, even things that happened decades ago on a different island, even if they happened to the American citizens whom Bondi has sworn to protect and represent.

Bondi is one of my least favorite characters in the America Goes to Hell tragicomedy — and yes, there are so many to choose from: puppy-killer-turned-ICE apologist Kristi Noem, still in her job while breastfeeding babies are ripped from their mothers’ arms; JD Vance, whose standout moments include a novel about why poor people deserve to be poor and that time he said he hoped his Hindu wife would come to Jesus; Karoline Leavitt, who abruptly ended a press conference this week rather than answer a question about commerce secretary Howard Lutnick’s ties with Jeffrey Epstein; Stephen Miller, whose passing resemblance to Voldemort was neatly complemented by calling slain intensive care nurse Alex Pretti a “domestic terrorist.”

So in many ways, it seems foolish to feel let down by Bondi’s performance. She’s never given us much cause to believe she’s a crusader for justice, job title notwithstanding.

Her background, too, is pretty much what you’d expect from this administration: a $25,000 political donation made to her from Trump’s foundation, illegally routed through a charity. Lobbying work for private prisons, the government of Qatar, Amazon, and Uber. Defence for Trump during his first impeachment trial. An unforgettable appearance alongside Rudy Giuliani at the Four Seasons Total Landscaping Company, there to deny the results of the 2020 election.

But there’s something so confronting about watching her refuse to crack now, after what we’ve all seen in the Epstein files. The insistent sticking to the script, the eye-rolling, the irritated and exasperated sighs: they come together to form such a calcified apathy that it can’t be chipped away at even by the most stomach-churning of horrors. We are, ultimately, talking about children. Vulnerable children, used as playthings for old, rich men across the entire political spectrum and elsewhere besides.

Bondi had a chance to rise to the occasion today. She holds one of the most important jobs in the United States, possibly the most important in the context of the Epstein files. Instead, when asked whether Trump — who was shown in a video partying with Epstein — had been in attendance at any parties with underage girls, she answered, “This is so ridiculous. They are trying to deflect from all the great things Donald Trump has done.”

Who is “they”? Is it the Democrats? The victims? The wider public, who won’t stop talking about the whole global pedophile thing, since it seems like kind of a big deal, all things considered?

Really, it doesn’t matter. Because Bondi has already decided that the whole “Epstein files” issue is just like everything else: us versus them, Dow-loving patriots versus stick-in-the-mud, Antifa-card-carrying domestic terrorists. And she made it very clear today: she’ll continue to be aggrieved on behalf of the people who really deserve her sympathy.

12-year-old Canada shooting victim clinging to life as mother says family ‘needs a miracle’

A 12-year-old girl is clinging onto her life after one of the deadliest mass shootings in Canadian history in the small British Columbia town of Tumbler Ridge.

“We were warned that the damage to her brain was too much for her to endure, and she wouldn’t make the night,” her mother wrote in a post on Facebook. “Our baby needs a miracle.”

The girl was reportedly trying to lock the door when she was shot by 18-year-old Jesse Van Rootselaar, who police say killed six people at Tumbler Ridge Secondary School, after killing her 39-year-old mother and 11-year-old stepbrother at a nearby home.

Six people were killed at the high school: a 39-year-old female educator, three 12-year-old female students, a 12-year-old male student and a 13-year-old male student.

Students and staff spent hours barricaded inside classrooms and other corners of the school after the principal directed everyone to lock their doors.

Investigators have not identified a motive for the shooting, but said police had been called to the residence several times in recent years due to “concerns” about the suspect’s “mental health.”

Putin’s forces knock out power in Odesa as thousands without heat

Tens of thousands have been left without heat, power and water in Ukrainian cities after Russia battered the country’s energy system with drones and ballistic missiles overnight.

In Kyiv alone, around 3,500 apartment buildings were without heating on ​Thursday after the latest attack knocked out supplies to nearly 2,600 high-rises, on top of the 1,100 already affected by previous strikes, mayor Vitali Klitschko said.

More than 100,000 families were without electricity, according to private energy firm DTEK, which said one of its thermal power plants had been targeted but did not disclose the location.

In Odesa, nearly 300,000 people were left without water as the attack disrupted power supplies, deputy prime minister Oleksiy Kuleba said. He added that close to 200 buildings in the strategic Black Sea port were left without heating.

The attack comes as EU leaders are gathering in Belgium to discuss how to resist pressure from Russia, as well as the United States and China.

The summit follows Volodymyr Zelensky’s dismissal of reports that he is planning to announce elections on the anniversary of Russia‘s full-scale invasion of his country on 24 February.

‘I must have been away’: ex-Daily Mail editor Paul Dacre is The Man Who Wasn’t There

Cat-like and hiding his claws, the former Daily Mail editor Paul Dacre slunk low in the witness box as he whispered his evidence in the long-running case of Prince Harry vs the publishers of his very own newspaper group.

In the bland, strip-lit courtroom, the editor-in-chief of DMG Media was a far cry from his own mythology. In legend, he has long been a frightening, Nosferatu-type figure, stalking around his Kensington lair and striking fear into the hearts of those who work for him. Today, he sat shadowed but shrunken, black-clad and a frail 77, his hoarse voice barely audible as he said, simply and repeatedly, “I don’t know”, and, “I can’t remember”, and, “I may have been off that day”.

Dacre is Macavity the Mystery Cat, the Hidden Paw – and in the box he duly defied the law, or at least bamboozled it. Incongruously, for the man who must have presided over more rigorous inquiries and more blockbuster investigations than any other outlet in Fleet Street over the past 30 years, when being questioned himself, he suddenly had nothing to say.

Worse: he claimed not even to understand the lingo. On the basic journalistic practice of a “door-knock”, Dacre shrugged and said smoothly, hoarsely, that he “does not know what that is”. On the spurious practice of “blagging” – which makes up a bulk of the accusations as to how, exactly, his journalists got hold of private information on celebrities including Hugh Grant, Jemima Khan and Sadie Frost… well, Dacre “couldn’t define it”. Until… he could. And he already had – at the Leveson Inquiry in 2011.

Dacre/Macavity “categorically” denied claims that his journalists paid police officers bribes, he denied all knowledge of where a story in the Daily Mail about Prince Harry taking a specific flight to Johannesburg with his ex-girlfriend, Chelsy Davy, in 2007, had come from – or that it may have involved a private investigator.

When the court was shown an email exchange between the Mail’s royal correspondent and a private investigator – along the lines of: “Can we plant someone next to them on the plane?”, which might only have been less shocking if it had carried a “LOL” at the end – Dacre, who hadn’t been party to the emails, said he didn’t know how the reporter got hold of any flight information. But he did say that “airlines were very relaxed” about giving out such details in his day. On being told that – perhaps, maybe? – the way the seat numbers were obtained was “unlawful”, Dacre returned to smooth form with: “I don’t know about that.”

Did Dacre, who famously used to brag he “smelled danger”, smell any danger with the sources who gave up such sensational stories and double-page spreads to his newspapers? Any of them? How about, for example, apparent payments for accessing people’s criminal records? We don’t know, you see. Paul Dacre “can’t remember”. He doesn’t bother himself with such “granular details”.

He reminded us, multiple times, that he’s far too busy and important; that he had risen “so high in the ranks” at the Mail over the years, working 15-hour days, that he couldn’t possibly have been expected to keep an eye on trivial matters such as who told whom to do what.

He made sure that we all heard – though we had to press our ears to the speaker to hear it – that he trusted his managing editors and his journalists, for all were of “impressive” calibre and training. That he – and he said it imperiously – had personally shut down any use of private investigators by way of a ban in the early 2000s. That the Mail on Sunday “wasn’t his paper”, that both papers are run “entirely autonomously”. It all felt like the court equivalent of a Dick Van Dyke skit, holding both hands up to a local bobby, declaring that it “wasn’t me, Guv!”, punctuated repeatedly by the – boom! – punctilious and precise – boom! – Dickensian roll call of barrister David Sherborne’s nod-of-his-hat address: “Mister Dacre…” Never has politeness sounded more like an insult.

Only Mr Justice Nicklin will know whether The Man Who Wasn’t There has dodged a bullet, in the end. He certainly dodged taking personal responsibility for any payments. For every piece of evidence that turned up and was presented to the court – each handwritten, scrawled receipt made out to “a source” or “the intelligence service” or a “detective agency”, each invoice marked with numbers like K2751 and L159, stamped and recorded and signed off by his own company, Associated Newspapers – was vigorously, vehemently, personally shrugged off.

Dacre/Macavity “had no recollection of it”. He simply “didn’t see it”. In one case, he “read it late at night”; in another, he skimmed it and realised it related to the Mail on Sunday – then dismissed it immediately as “not for him” (because the two papers are separate and anonymous, do you see? Didn’t he tell you?!). The exchange was like watching a ping-pong match in slow motion.

The coiffed barrister tried, repeatedly, to get him to reveal whether he’d told the truth – both now and at the Leveson Inquiry – but Macavity repeatedly slipped out of sight. Still, despite those pesky “granular details” that Dacre/Macavity detests so much, it will all come down to this: how each story came to light. Whose privacy was interrupted (at best) or stolen (at worst) to get to it. And who “smelled danger” – or should have.

Throughout the day-long, testy gladiatorial battle between gruffness and smoothness, one image remains: Dacre leaving the box in his dark overcoat, with a sharp and stealthy swoosh of his tail. And ay, there’s the wonder of the thing, you see! You may meet him in a by-street, you may see him in the square – but Macavity’s not there!

Why Gran Hotel Taoro is Tenerife’s must-book luxury stay for 2026

Tenerife’s iconic Gran Hotel Taoro holds a special place in Spanish history. As the first luxury hotel in Spain, opening its doors in 1890, it was a glamorous haven for high society, welcoming everyone from King Alfonso XIII and the Duke of Kent to author Agatha Christie.

Now, after a complete renovation, the landmark hotel has been reborn as an elegant 21st-century destination that’s ready to welcome you for the ultimate five-star break.

The hotel’s carefully preserved neo-classical architecture exudes old-world elegance, while colonial-inspired interiors in earthy tones and modern five-star comforts promise a stay that feels both timeless and contemporary.

Set on a lush hilltop in northern Tenerife and overlooking the historic town of Puerto de la Cruz, the hotel’s 199 rooms and suites make the most of its enviable location, featuring breathtaking panoramic views of Mount Teide – the highest point in Spain – the Atlantic Ocean, and the palm-dotted greenery of its terraces and surrounding botanical parks.

Prepare to embark on an unforgettable culinary journey throughout your stay, with exceptional restaurants celebrating local and international flavours.

At fusion restaurant OKA, helmed by Michelin-starred chef Ricardo Sanz, Japanese fine dining is given a mouthwatering Mediterranean twist.

Two-Michelin-starred chef Erlantz Gorostiza is the mastermind behind two more restaurants: Spanish gourmet bistro Amalur, with a menu inspired by the four elements; and fine dining restaurant Lava, whose exclusive setting includes a Chef’s Counter for six guests.

Breakfast at Atlantico Buffet is the perfect way to start the day as you savour delicious dishes alongside terrace views. For leisurely poolside lunches, La Carola is the place to be, serving Mediterranean flavours and crisp Canarian wines with a generous side of Tenerife sunshine.

Secure your holiday to Gran Hotel Taoro with British Airways Holidays and enjoy a great-value holiday with quality and peace of mind. You’ll benefit from ATOL protection from the moment you book, a 24-hour helpline and a generous checked baggage allowance. Book your holiday with a low deposit and spread the cost with flexible payments* – so all that’s left to focus on is enjoying your holiday in style.

If you upgrade to Club Europe, you’ll enjoy a host of additional benefits including lounge access,** increased checked baggage allowance, and priority check-in and boarding. Members of The British Airways Club benefit from collecting Avios, earning tier points and using Avios towards the cost of holiday packages.

Spend your days at the Gran Hotel Taoro relaxing by three heated pools, set amidst beautifully landscaped gardens and providing a postcard-perfect setting for some downtime.

If you want to up the relaxation factor further, head to the serene sanctuary of the Sandara Wellness Center, which offers a range of exclusive treatments in partnership with luxury French brand Anne Semonin.

Guests who want to explore the history, culture and natural wonders of the local area – including Puerto de la Cruz, the oldest tourist destination in the Canaries – can take advantage of the hotel’s new X-Plora programme, offering a range of tailor-made experiences both within and beyond the hotel grounds through the dedicated concierge team.

More than a luxury retreat, Gran Hotel Taoro is a grand hotel reborn: a destination where heritage, culture and five-star service come together in one of Tenerife’s most treasured and authentic settings. Book with British Airways Holidays to experience this Spanish icon’s remarkable return in 2026.

British Airways Holidays packages include a generous checked baggage allowance for each customer and come with full ATOL protection for complete peace of mind. Secure your Tenerife holiday to Gran Hotel Taoro with a low deposit and enjoy flexible payments until you fly*.

*Based on two sharing. Full balance due four weeks before departure. Subject to availability. T&Cs apply. **Subject to availability

• Secure your holiday with a low deposit and spread the cost with flexible payments.*

• All holiday packages include a generous checked baggage allowance.

• ATOL protection from the moment you book your holiday package giving you financial reassurance.

• Quality car hire with no hidden fees, 24-hour support and roadside assistance.

• Upgrade to Club Europe (Business Class) for a host of additional benefits including lounge access,** increased checked baggage allowance, delicious food and drink options and dedicated check-in and priority boarding.

• Members of The British Airways Club benefit from collecting Avios, earning tier points and using Avios towards the cost of holiday packages.

We escaped to the country for idyllic village life – now we face being imprisoned by sea of solar panels

A couple who moved to the countryside to escape a sprawl of overdevelopment on the outskirts of London say they are devastated by plans for a huge solar farm around their new rural community.

Chris and Maggie Firth said coming to the idyllic village of North Clifton on the bank of the River Trent in Nottinghamshire had been a “dream”, after spending £350,000 on a five-bedroom home in a modern estate six years ago.

But now the retired couple say they face becoming “collateral damage” in the building of a massive solar farm project, which, at 3,500 acres in size, would cover an area of around 2,200 football pitches.

The company behind it, One Earth Solar Farm, says the solar farm will provide enough electricity to power more than 200,000 homes a year, with energy secretary Ed Miliband set to make a decision on the plans this year.

It is one of more than 1,100 UK sites earmarked for solar farms under proposals that have been approved or are going through the planning system, with the Labour government ramping up the number of projects given consent in the pursuit of a target for 95 per cent clean power by 2030.

Many of the farms are proposed in the countryside of Nottinghamshire and Lincolnshire, where almost all have been met with fierce local opposition.

In North Clifton, 98 per cent of residents surveyed said they were against the solar farm plan. The community has just 110 homes, and there are fears over the impact on the village school and church if people were to leave because of the development.

A masterplan of the solar farm shows the project boundary hugs the three sides of the village – although fields north and south of the village will be kept free of solar panels, the company said, after making “significant changes” after feedback.

Mrs Firth, a former finance worker, told The Independent: “After 30 years in Surrey, we moved away for our retirement from the M25 traffic, the overdevelopment and general stress of urban life. We found this beautiful, quiet hamlet and saw the house, it was like an instant dream moving in.

“We walked the dogs in the surrounding fields, got ourselves involved in rural village life.

“Then we heard about the plans for the solar farm, and when I went to the consultation, I just broke out in tears. The panels will literally surround the village, it will feel prison-like. You will have to go along way just to get away from seeing the damn things.

“We should be protecting our countryside, not running over it with solar panels and impacting rural village life. We’re just the collateral damage in the government pursues green energy, aren’t we?”

Mr Firth, 74, a former facilities manager, said the couple, who have solar panels on their home, would consider moving again if the plans were approved. “But what will that mean for the school, village life, house prices if everyone starts to move away?” he added.

The pair’s remarks have been echoed in the more than 100 comments of objection made against solar farm to the government’s planning inspectorate. Fellow villager David White, who runs the Say No to One Earth Farm group, has also raised concerns over the use of land at risk of flooding.

In documents to the government, One Earth Solar Farm said it planned to raise solar panels further above the ground in some areas to mitigate the risk, while, it said, balancing this against their visual impact.

But villagers are already unhappy over the proposed height of the solar panels from the ground, up to 3.8 metres in some areas. A substation could also reach 13.5 metres in height, according to planning documents.

The company said it will also plant 14 acres of woodland and nine miles of new hedgerows, and that the solar panels and infrastructure will cover less than 2,400 acres of the overall site due to the land set aside for wildlife and environmental benefits. Fifteen full-time staff would also be employed at the site.

However, North Clifton parish chairman James Radley said the loss of farming, and its knock-on for local employment, would likely counterbalance any jobs created. “It will decimate any feeling of rural life we enjoy,” he said.

Mr Radley said he understood farmers were being offered £1,000 an acre per year to have the solar panels on their land.

On Monday, the government awarded subsidies for renewable energy projects, including a contract for the 2,550-acre West Burton solar farm, to be built around 10 miles from North Clifton.

One Earth Solar Farm said it had consulted with the community for the past two years, making changes after each round of consultation, including moving solar panels away from homes and villages, shrinking the size of the farm and selecting a location of a substation that least impact on the community.

A spokesperson also said that components on the solar fam that make noise, such as batteries, substations and inverters, would be kept at least 100 metres from homes.

They added: “We have sought to balance the need for producing as much clean, home-grown energy as possible, while doing so in a way that is sensitive to the local community and environment.

“We are confident that our final proposals strike this balance, and are currently awaiting a consent decision from the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero later this summer.”

The government said all solar projects were subject to a rigorous planning process. A spokesperson said: “The biggest threat to agriculture and nature is the climate crisis. Solar is one of the cheapest and quickest forms of energy to build – getting us off fossil fuels and delivering energy security so we can get bills down for good.

“Even in the most ambitious scenarios, we only expect up to 0.4 per cent of total UK land to be used for solar by 2030.”

Ukrainian disqualified from Winter Olympics over war tribute helmet

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has disqualified Ukraine’s Vladyslav Heraskevych from competing in this afternoon’s skeleton heats after he followed up on his vow to wear a banned helmet in tribute to Ukrainian athletes who have died during the war with Russia.

Heraskevych, 27, said he would rather sacrifice his dream of a medal at the Winter Olympics than “betray” his fallen compatriots killed since Russia’s invasion four years ago. Heraskevych’s helmet features images of Ukrainian athletes killed during the war.

The IOC reiterated to Heraskevych and the Ukrainian delegation that his helmet violated rule 50.2 of the Olympic Charter, which states that “no kind of demonstration or political, religious or racial propaganda is permitted in any Olympic sites, venues or other areas”.

On Tuesday, the IOC announced a “compromise” that would allow Heraskevych to wear a black armband instead after warning him that the helmet violated their rules. The IOC then pleaded to Heraskevych to reconsider when the 27-year-old signalled his intent to defy them.

Speaking on Wednesday, Heraskevych said he would not stand down, adding that it was the helmet or nothing. “I will not betray these athletes. These athletes sacrificed their lives, and because of this sacrifice, I am able to be here, so I will not betray them,” he said.

“An Olympic medal would be huge. Since my childhood, it’s my big dream. But in this time, in time of full-scale war, some things are really more important than medals. At this point, I would say that a medal is worthless in comparison to people’s lives, and I believe in comparison to memory of these athletes.”

The IOC sent its president, Kirsty Coventry, to speak with Heraskevych in one final bid to persuade him to change course, but he would not be moved.

In a statement which repeatedly spelled Heraskevych’s first name wrong, the IOC said: “Having been given one final opportunity, skeleton pilot Vladylsav [sic] Heraskevych from Ukraine will not be able to start his race at the Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic Winter Games this morning.

“The IOC has therefore decided with regret to withdraw his accreditation for the Milano Cortina 2026 Games.

“Despite multiple exchanges and in-person meetings between the IOC and Mr Heraskevych, the last one this morning with IOC President Kirsty Coventry, he did not consider any form of compromise.

“The IOC was very keen for Mr Heraskevych to compete. This is why the IOC sat down with him to look for the most respectful way to address his desire to remember his fellow athletes who have lost their lives following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The essence of this case is not about the message, it is about where he wanted to express it.”

Heraskevych wrote on social media after the decision to ban him: “This is the price of our dignity”.

He told reporters at the Cortina d’Ampezzo track: “It’s hard to say or put into words. It’s emptiness.” He said he would appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

Great Britain’s double Olympic gold medallist in skeleton, Lizzy Yarnold, said on BBC commentary that the IOC owe Heraskevych an apology.

She said: “It’s actually quite shocking. Lots of the sliding community have been in contact straight away. There is shock and confusion.

“Taking away his accreditation means he now needs to leave the Olympic Games. The reaction to something which was an act of memorial, incredibly emotionally important to him. I’m quite shocked. I think the IOC owe him an apology. I think this was the wrong decision. He was also a medal contender for the race. He’s a phenomenal athlete.”