Due of the conflict in Ukraine, Zelensky claims Russian athletes should be banned from the Olympics.

Claiming to have spoken with French President Emmanuel Macron on the matter, he stated.

He also stressed that Moscow could not be permitted to manipulate the Olympics for political purposes.

Athletes from Russia and Belarus will be able to participate in the Olympics as neutrals, per the IOC.

Ukraine, meanwhile, has vowed to skip Paris 2024 if athletes from Russia and Belarus are permitted to compete.

Mr Zelensky added in his nightly video message that the IOC’s efforts “to get Russian athletes back into the Olympic Games are attempts to teach the whole world that terror is somehow acceptable.”

It is unacceptable for Russia to exploit the Olympics “or any other athletic event as propaganda for its aggressiveness or its state chauvinism,” he continued.

In a statement released last week, the IOC noted that “no athlete should be banned from competing solely because of their passport,” effectively allowing Russian and Belarusian competitors to compete as “neutral athletes.”

But Mr Zelensky argues that there can be no neutrality in sports if athletes from his nation are being killed in action.

Further, he drew parallels to the 1936 Olympics, which were held in Nazi-occupied Berlin.

It was a “huge Olympic blunder,” he claimed. The Olympic movement and terrorist governments mustn’t interact.

The British government has also spoken out against the idea to enable athletes to participate neutrally, calling it a “world apart from the reality of war.”

Military personnel from Ukraine retrieve a grad missile from a destroyed Kherson home.

Kherson has been under constant Russian artillery fire all weekend.
As Mr. Zelensky spoke, Russian soldiers continued to strike the Ukrainian province of Kherson into the night, following a day of bombardment that left at least three people dead.

Local authorities report six additional casualties; two were injured when a hospital was struck.

According to the regional government in Kherson, the area was bombarded about 40 times on Saturday and repeatedly on Sunday.

Since Russia’s invasion in February 2022, only Kherson’s capital has fallen into Russian hands, but in November they were forced to flee in disgrace.

In addition, President Zelensky said that Russia has increased its attacks in the eastern Donetsk area. To deal with the “extremely challenging” circumstances of repeated strikes, his men required new weaponry, he claimed.

“Russia’s goal is to draw out the conflict and wear out our armed forces. Now time itself must become a tool we employ. Events, supplies, and new armament choices for Ukraine need to be accelerated “That’s what he had to say, he clarified.