Ukraine war: Russian athletes cannot be allowed at Olympics, Zelensky says

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky says that allowing Russia to vie astatine the 2024 Olympics successful Paris would magnitude to showing that "terror is someway acceptable".

He said helium had raised the contented with French President Emmanuel Macron.

Moscow indispensable not beryllium allowed to usage the Olympics for propaganda, helium added.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has said Russian and Belarusian athletes could vie arsenic neutrals astatine the Olympics.

Attempts by the IOC "to bring Russian athletes backmost into the Olympic Games are attempts to archer the full satellite that panic is someway acceptable", Mr Zelensky said successful his nightly video address.

Russia indispensable not beryllium allowed to usage the Games "or immoderate different athletics lawsuit arsenic propaganda for its aggression oregon its authorities chauvinism", helium added.

The IOC said this week that Russian and Belarusian athletes could vie arsenic "neutral athletes", stating that "no jock should beryllium prevented from competing conscionable due to the fact that of their passport".

But Mr Zelensky says determination tin beryllium nary neutrality successful athletics portion his country's athletes are dying connected the battlefield.

He besides drew examination with the 1936 Olympic Games successful Berlin erstwhile the Nazis were successful power.

"There was a large Olympic mistake," helium said. "The Olympic question and violent states decidedly should not transverse paths."

The UK authorities has besides condemned the program to let athletes to vie neutrally arsenic a "world distant from the world of war".

Mr Zelensky's comments came arsenic Russian forces continued to bombard the Ukrainian portion of Kherson into the night, aft a time of attacks which near astatine slightest 3 radical dead.

Six others were wounded, 2 of them erstwhile a infirmary was hit, section officials say.

The Kherson determination medication said the portion was shelled astir 40 times connected Saturday and was pounded continually connected Sunday.

Kherson was the lone determination superior to person fallen to Russian forces since the February 2022 invasion, but they were forced into a humiliating retreat successful November.

President Zelensky said Russia had besides stepped up its attacks successful the eastbound Donetsk region. He said his forces needed caller weapons to face a "very tough" concern of changeless attacks.

"Russia wants the warfare to resistance connected and exhaust our forces. So we person to marque clip our weapon. We person to velocity up events, velocity up supplies and unfastened up caller weapons options for Ukraine," helium said.