Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky (left) invited IOC President Bach (right) to the frontline city of Bakhmut today, underscoring Ukraine's international campaign to prevent Russian athletes from participating in the 2024 Paris Olympics.

The picture shows Bach's visit to Kyiv in July 2022.

(AFP file photo)

(CNA) Ukraine will launch an international campaign to prevent Russian athletes from being allowed to compete in the 2024 Paris Olympics, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said today.

Ukraine's Sports Minister Vadim Guttsait had earlier said Ukraine would not rule out boycotting the Paris Olympics if Russian and Belarusian athletes were allowed to compete, Reuters reported.

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Following Russia's invasion of Ukraine last February, most international sports federations followed the IOC's recommendation to ban Russian and Belarusian athletes from competing.

Russian and Belarusian athletes are currently banned from some sports and allowed to compete under neutral flags in others.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) hopes to see Russian and Belarusian athletes return to major events. The Olympic Council of Asia (Olympic Council of Asia) stated on the 25th that it is willing to provide Russian and Belarusian athletes with the opportunity to compete in Asia. Participate in the Paris Olympic qualifying event to open the way.

"Today we will start a marathon of fair competition to remove the hypocrisy of the management of the international Olympic structure and prevent representatives of terrorist states from joining the international sports scene," Zelensky said in a video of the talk.

"It is obvious that the neutrality flag carried by the Russian athletes is stained with blood... Olympic principles and warfare are fundamentally incompatible."

The IOC wants to allow Russian and Belarusian athletes to compete as neutrals in the 2024 Paris Games.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said today that any attempt to exclude Moscow from international sporting events was "doomed to fail".

Zelensky invited IOC President Thomas Bach to visit the Ukrainian frontline city of Bakhmut today.

Zelensky extended the invitation to Bach after the International Olympic Games said it should explore "pathways" for Russian athletes to compete in Paris in 2024.

"I invite Mr. Bach to come to Bakhmut so that he can testify for himself that neutrality does not exist," Zelensky said.