An assassination attempt against Volodymyr Zelensky by Chechens has been foiled, a senior Ukrainian official said.

Oleksiy Danilov, secretary of the National Security and Defense Council, said an “elite group” of Chechens had arrived in Kyiv to kill the Ukrainian president.

He said they were in two units, one of which was captured, while the other was under fire from Ukrainian forces.

It was not immediately clear how close they got to Mr Zelensky.

According to US intelligence, a Russian aim has been to “decapitate” the Ukrainian government by removing its leadership.

Mr Zelensky has described how the “enemy has marked me as target number one.”