BREAKING NEWS: Ukraine President Zelensky criticises Olympic chief for allowing Russia to participate in 2024 games

Zelensky slams Olympic chief Bach’s decision for allowing Russia to participate in 2024 saying strikes during the invasion killed hundreds of people in Ukraine who could have brought their talent to world sports 

Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelensky has criticised the decision of the International Olympic Committee chief Thomas Bach’s decision to allow Russia to participate in the next game.

He announced his disappointment about the decision during his nightly address to the country and said, “Olympic principles and war are fundamentally opposed to each other”.  

“One cannot but be disappointed by the statements of the current president of the International Olympic Committee, Thomas Bach. I spoke with him several times”. 

“And I never heard how he is going to protect sports from war propaganda if he returns Russian athletes to international competitions”.  

Zelensky´s statement comes at a time when the country´s prosecutor general´s office has announced that over 66,742 war crimes, as well as crimes of aggression were committed by Russian forces in Ukraine, since the invasion started in February 2022, as per the Independent.

He said that since the war began athletes in Ukraine have been forced to defend their country against aggression from Russian forces. 

“Russian strikes took the lives of hundreds of Ukrainian men and women who could have brought their talents to world sports”.  

Zelensky also announced that “his administration will do “everything so that the world will protect sports from political or any other influence of the terrorist state, which is simply inevitable if Russian athletes participate in competitions. And especially – at the Paris Olympics.”   

“I do not want to get into what exactly motivated Mr Bach to promote such an initiative”, he added.  

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