"Thanks to the Council of Ministers and the Ministry of Finance, the athletes are fully insured for next year," the head of the NOC of Ukraine told the media. The organisation's position is rooted in the IOC's decision on 8 December 2023 to allow Russian and Belarusian athletes to compete in Paris 2024 under a neutral flag. 

Both the Russian and Ukrainian communities reacted controversially to this decision. However, IOC President Thomas Bach justified the decision as a matter of balance.

Russia said the decision could exclude many of its top athletes from Paris 2024, while Ukraine considered boycotting the Olympics and not participating in protest. 

This position, which was initially of little concern to Bach, who expressed confidence that this would not be the case, gained strength at the end of December after the Ukrainian authorities reiterated the possibility of not taking part in the Olympic event, which is still not official. 

On the other hand, Ukrainian sports lawyer Yuriy Yurchenko filed an appeal with the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), according to the International Sport Press Association.

His aim is to overturn the IOC's decision to give Russian and Belarusian athletes the green light to compete as neutral athletes at the 2024 Paris Olympics. Only 11 of the 4,600 athletes now meet the IOC's requirements. 

The appeal not only calls on CAS to ban Russian and Belarusian athletes from competing in any capacity at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, but also argues that the IOC should ban Russian and Belarusian athletes from competing under their countries' flags for life. The appeal also calls for Russian and Belarusian supporters to be banned for life from attending international competitions.