Speaking in his nightly address, Zelenskyy confirmed that he had sent a letter to the heads of the world’s leading governing bodies calling on them to respond to the IOC’s move to potentially reintegrate athletes from Russia and Belarus.

A ban on Russian and Belarusian national symbols remains in place but the door has been opened for athletes to return under "strict conditions" of neutrality as the IOC continues to explore a pathway for their participation.

The Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) said it "remains on standby" to welcome athletes from the two countries to its event but the IOC noted that each IF is the "sole authority" for its international competition.

Zelenskyy has now written to IF Presidents in a bid to "bring international sports agencies back to the true Olympic principles" as reported by Ukraine’s national news agency Ukrinform.

"I addressed a letter to the Presidents of the leading international sports federations," said Zelenskyy.

"The call is simple and fair: to decide on the decision of the International Olympic Committee which, unfortunately, wants to open sports to the propaganda influence of the terrorist state."

Zelenskyy’s call comes after he invited IOC President Thomas Bach to the war-torn city of Bakhmut to "see with his own eyes that neutrality does not exist".

"I spoke with him several times and I never heard how he is going to protect sports from war propaganda if he returns Russian athletes to international competitions," said Zelenskyy during a five-minute video on Twitter.

"There is no such thing as neutrality when a war like this is going on and we know how often tyrannis try to use sports for their ideological interests.

"It is obvious that any neutral flag of Russian athletes is stained with blood."

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba has also taken to social media to slam the IOC’s decision.

"The efforts of the IOC to sweep Russian war crimes under the rug is a testament to how far the Olympic gods have become detached from reality," Kuleba wrote on Twitter.

"The IOC is willing to trample on the graves of thousands of innocent people who have been and are being killed by Russians."

The National Olympic Committee of Ukraine is to hold an Extraordinary General Assembly on Friday (February 3) to discuss whether to boycott Paris 2024 if Russian and Belarusian athletes are allowed to compete.

The IOC has claimed that "the vast majority of the participants in each of the consultation calls" supported its stance on the participation of Russian and Belarusian athletes.

These include a view that "no athlete should be prevented from competing just because of their passport" and "Governments must not decide which athletes can participate in which competition and which athletes cannot".

In an interview with German publication Der Spiegel, Bach defended the IOC’s approach and insisted that the return of Russian and Belarusian athletes was still "under consideration".

The European Olympic Committees, OCA, Association of National Olympic Committees of Africa, Panam Sports and the Association of National Olympic Committees have expressed their support for the IOC stance on Russian and Belarusian participation.

"The ongoing consultations are addressing the letter from two special rapporteurs of the UN Human Rights Council who have expressed their 'serious concerns' about the current IOC recommendations," the IOC told insidethegames in response to the development. 

"The letter says: 'We express serious concern, however, about the recommendation to ban Russian and Belarusian athletes and officials such as judges from international competitions, based solely on their nationality, as a matter of principle. This raises serious issues of non-discrimination'.

"The concept under discussion is supported by the vast majority of the Olympic Movement, such as ANOC, the Association of all 206 National Olympic Committees, and reflects what we have seen in practice during the last two weeks at the Australian Open. 

"Athletes competed in the tournament as individual athletes under a neutral flag without any identification of their country. 

"The concept is well established, and also used in cycling and a number of professional leagues across North America and Europe.

"The principles upon which the concept is based are in line with the Olympic Charter and have been and are respected by all NOCs across the world that have found their country affected by war or other armed conflict."