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Russia’s war against Ukraine On Saturday, the country’s sports minister, Vadym Huttsait, said 262 Ukrainian athletes had been killed and 363 sports facilities had been destroyed.
A local resident walks next to a damaged residential building after Russian missiles hit the town of Kostyantynivka in the Donetsk region during Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on April 2, 2023. (AFP)
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During a meeting with visiting International Gymnastics Federation president Mamoru Watanabe, Hetset said Russian athletes should not be allowed to compete in the Olympics or other sports.
Also read: Ukraine has nuclear ambitions: Kim Jong Un’s sister bombs Kiev
“They all support this war and attend events held in support of this war,” Hetset said, according to a transcript on President Volodymyr Zelensky’s website.
The International Olympic Committee recommends that Russian and Belarusian athletes gradually return to international competitions with neutral status. It has not yet decided whether they will participate in the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Ukraine said on Friday it would not allow its athletes to qualify for the 2024 Olympics if they had to compete against the Russians, a decision criticized by the International Olympic Committee.
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Reuters could not independently verify the death toll of Ukrainian athletes or the number of facilities destroyed.
Also read: Ukraine puts Orthodox leader under house arrest for glorifying Russian invasion
After Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, several Ukrainian national athletes volunteered to take up arms to defend their homeland.
Among those killed this year alone were figure skater Dmytro Sharpar, who was killed in a fight near Bakhmut, and 22-year-old decathlon champion and future Olympic hopeful Volodymyr Androshchuk.
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