Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is calling for Russian athletes to be barred from competing in next year’s Olympics, while his country remains under attack. “As we prepare for the Paris Olympics, we must be sure that Russia will not be able to use it or any other international sporting event to promote aggression or its state chauvinism,” Zelensky said in his nightly address.
The president said he has written to French President Emmanuel Macron to convey his request, after the International Olympic Committee last week reaffirmed that it will allow “neutral athletes” from Russia and Belarus to participate without representing their state.
Here’s the latest on the war and its ripple effects across the globe.
1. Key developments
Zelensky described the situation on the front lines in the eastern Donetsk region as “very tough.” Bakhmut, Vuhledar and other areas in the region are under “constant Russian attacks” he said, as Russian forces attempt to break through Ukraine’s defense.The president is calling on international allies to speed up delivery of weapons supplies, just days after nonstop negotiations broke a stalemate over battle tanks. “Russia hopes to drag out the war, to exhaust our forces. So we have to make time our weapon. We must speed up the events, speed up the supply and opening of new necessary weaponry options for Ukraine,” Zelensky said.Ukrainian tank operators have arrived in the United Kingdom to receive training on how to use the Challenger 2 tanks that London recently pledged to send Kyiv. Britain’s Defense Ministry on Sunday posted photos of more than a dozen individuals, with their faces blurred, disembarking from a Royal Air Force plane. Training with German-made Leopard 2 tanks is set to begin within days as Germany and Poland rush deliveries for spring.