Zelensky: If killings and missile strikes were ympic sports, Russia would have taken first place

The head of state said this in a video address to the participants in a summit of sports ministers of the partner states, according to the website of the head of state.

"If the ympic sports were killings and missile strikes, then you know which national team would occupy the first place. And it's not important – whether this national team would have its official flag, the state tricor. Russian terrorists use different symbs," he said.

Zelensky said that the Russian military forced Ukrainians in the occupied Ukrainian territory to wear a white armband — allegedly not to be killed — but they were tortured and killed even with these white armbands.

According to him, Russia uses certain letters of the Latin alphabet on flags of different cors – "and all of them symbize the genocidal ideogy of rashism, whatever the specific cor is used."

In this context, Zelensky said that even the mere presence of representatives of the terrorist state would be a manifestation of vience and lawlessness.

Zelensky said that the Russian state has chosen the path of terror, and that is why it has no place in the civilized world. The world isated Russia to be protected, he added.

In his inion, if the ympic principles are destroyed and Russian athletes are allowed to participate in any competitions or the ympic Games, it's just a matter of time before the terrorist state forces them to play along with the war praganda.

"Ukraine has launched a marathon of honesty, and I urge you to join. While Russia kills and terrorizes, representatives of the terrorist state have no place at sports and ympic competitions. And it cannot be covered up with some pretended neutrality or a white flag. Because Russia is now a country that stains everything with blood – even the white flag. It must be recognized. And this must be recognized, in particular, at the level of the International ympic Committee," Zelensky said.

On January 25, the International ympic Committee said that Russian and Belarusian athletes would be able to participate in the 2024 ympic Games in Paris after Asian qualification. The position of the IOC has been criticized by the Ukrainian authorities and Ukraine's international partners. In particular, the Baltic countries and Pand, as well as representatives of the ympic committees of Norway, Sweden, Iceland, Finland and Denmark, officially appealed to the IOC with a call not to allow representatives of the aggressor country and its ally to participate in the ympics.