Volodymyr Zelensky
Volodymyr ZelenskyReuters

A senior Ukrainian official said on Tuesday that Ukraine had foiled an assassination attempt against President Volodymyr Zelensky by Chechens.

Oleksiy Danilov, Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council, said, according to The Telegraph, that 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 Zelensky.

Earlier on Tuesday, Ramzan Kadyrov, the strongman leader of Chechnya, said Chechens had been killed in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Kadyrov, a Kremlin-ally, has given his backing to Russian President Vladimir Putin's attack on Ukraine, sending his fighters to the country.

"Unfortunately, there are already losses among the natives of the Chechen Republic. Two died, six more were injured to varying degrees," he said, according to The Telegraph.

It was unclear whether those casualties were linked to the same events as described by Danilov.