"Many Ukrainian athletes joined the ranks of the Ukrainian armed forces to defend our country, to defend it on the battlefield," Zelensky said at a meeting with the head of the International Olympic Committee, Thomas Bach, on Sunday, as cited by the ukrinform.net website.
He added: "Some 89 athletes and coaches have been killed in hostilities. Thirteen were captured and are in Russian captivity."
Zelensky also told Bach that more than 100,000 athletes were unable to train after a number of sports facilities were destroyed during the war.
He said: "Russia's invasion has become a cruel blow to Ukrainian sports. More than 100,000 Ukrainian athletes do not have the opportunity to train today. Many infrastructure facilities have been destroyed. These are large objects of sports infrastructure and objects at our schools and Ukrainian universities, at sports clubs."
Monday is day 131 of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
(gs)
Source: PAP, ukrinform.net