Kropyvnytskyi deputies will appeal to the Ministry of Youth and Sports to prevent the participation of Russian and Belarusian athletes in the Olympic Games

Kropyvnytskyi City Council members supported an appeal to prevent the participation of Russian and Belarusian athletes in the Olympic and Asian Games.

During the Russian-Ukrainian war, Ukrainian athletes are increasingly voicing their concerns about competing on the same sporting stage with athletes from the aggressor country. The voices of our athletes were amplified by the members of the Kropyvnytskyi City Council. During the ninth session held on May 4, they supported an appeal to the Ministry of Youth and Sports of Ukraine and the National Olympic Committee of Ukraine to prevent the participation of Russian and Belarusian athletes in the Olympic and Asian Games.

The relevant appeal was read out at the session by Vyacheslav Hurskyi, the head of the Department of Youth and Sports of Kropyvnytskyi City Council. It stated:

"Kropyvnytskyi City Council emphasizes that proposals to allow athletes from the terrorist countries of Russia and Belarus to participate in international sports competitions do not take into account the extremely brutal and barbaric nature of the war initiated by the Russian Federation with the support of Belarus against Ukraine, aimed at the genocide of the Ukrainian people, including the overt attempts by the armed forces of fascist Russia to provoke a man-made catastrophe in Ukraine by completely destroying the energy infrastructure and shelling the Zaporizhzhia and Chernobyl nuclear power plants.

Such proposals are an insult to the memory of hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian citizens, including athletes, who selflessly defended their homeland and sacrificed their lives in the fight for its future as a democratic European state."

As a result of the war, more than 340 sports facilities have been seriously damaged or destroyed. As of January 2023, the losses from the destruction of Ukraine's sports infrastructure exceed $250 million USD.

Over 250 Ukrainian athletes and coaches have been killed by Russian occupiers. Due to Russian aggression, approximately 40,000 Ukrainian athletes were forced to leave the country. The appeal regarding the non-participation of Russian and Belarusian athletes in the Olympic and Asian Games was sent by the Kropyvnytskyi City Council members to the Ministry of Youth and Sports of Ukraine and the National Olympic Committee of Ukraine.