(Reuters) - Russia's&nbsp;war&nbsp;against Ukraine&nbsp;has&nbsp;claimed the lives of&nbsp;262&nbsp;Ukrainian&nbsp;athletes&nbsp;and destroyed 363&nbsp;sports&nbsp;facilities, the country's&nbsp;sports&nbsp;minister, Vadym Huttsait, said on Saturday.
Meeting the visiting president of the International Federation of Gymnastics, Morinari Watanabe, Huttsait said no&nbsp;athletes&nbsp;from Russia should be allowed at the Olympics or other&nbsp;sports&nbsp;competitions.
"They all support this&nbsp;war&nbsp;and attend events held in support of this&nbsp;war," Huttsait said, according to a transcript on President Volodymyr Zelenskiy's website.
The International Olympic Committee&nbsp;has&nbsp;recommended the gradual return of Russian and Belarusian&nbsp;athletes&nbsp;to international competition as neutrals. It&nbsp;has&nbsp;not decided on their participation in the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Ukraine said on Friday its&nbsp;athletes&nbsp;will not be allowed to take part in qualifying events for the 2024 Games if they have to compete against Russians, a decision the IOC&nbsp;has&nbsp;criticised.
Reuters could not independently verify the number of&nbsp;Ukrainian&nbsp;athletes&nbsp;killed&nbsp;or how many facilities have been destroyed.
In the wake of Russia's full-scale invasion on Ukraine in February 2022, a number of&nbsp;Ukrainian&nbsp;national-level&nbsp;athletes&nbsp;have taken up arms voluntarily to defend their country.
Among those&nbsp;killed&nbsp;this year alone have been figure skater Dmytro Sharpar, who died in combat near Bakhmut, and Volodymyr Androshchuk, a 22-year-old decathlon champion and future Olympic hopeful.
&nbsp;
(Reporting by Lidia Kelly in Melbourne; Editing by William Mallard)

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War has killed 262 Ukrainian athletes, sports minister says