Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky held a telephone conversation with British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on Saturday, during which the Ukrainian leader withdrew his categorical refusal to the participation of Russian and Belarusian athletes in the 2024 Paris Olympics.
«The representatives of the aggressor have no place in Paris 2024 and I have said so,» Zelenski said on his Twitter account.
For his part, Sunak has explained to the Ukrainian president that the UK is now focused on «ensuring that the defensive military equipment» of the country «reaches the front line as quickly as possible.»
«Both leaders agreed that it was vital that international partners accelerate their assistance to Ukraine to help seize the opportunity to push back Russian forces,» according to the note published by Downing Street and picked up by Sky News.
It should be recalled that the British government will organize a summit next February 10 to address the possible banning of Russian athletes at the next Olympic Games (IOC), a possibility to which the International Olympic Committee has left open in recent days, according to Sky News.
The IOC has said this week it is planning for Russian and Belarusian athletes to compete in international competitions in Asia and this year — excluding the Paris 2024 Olympics from the equation — to avoid what would be a discriminatory veto, something Ukraine has flatly refused to do.
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)