Ukraine on Tuesday night announced that its armed forces have neutralised an elite Chechen hit squad sent to assassinate President Volodymyr Zelensky.
The development was confirmed by National Security and Defence Council chief, Oleksiy Danilov.
Danilov said officials were tipped off that special troops had been deployed by Ramzan Kadyrov, leader of Russia’s Chechnya region and a staunch ally of President Vladimir Putin.
‘We are already aware of the special operation that was to be carried out by Kadyrov forces unit,’ Mr Danilov told Ukraine 24 TV channel.
‘We received the information from representatives of Russia’s Federal Security Service who do not want to take part in this bloody war. The Kadyrov forces unit, which came to kill our President, was eliminated.’
The security chief said the unit had been split into two groups who were each closely monitored.
He further described how one came under fire in Hostomel, while the other was currently being held at gunpoint.
In a viral video posted online on Saturday, the leader of Russia’s Chechnya region boasted that his armed men had so far suffered no losses before declaring: ‘The president (Putin) took the right decision and we will carry out his orders under any circumstances.’
Kadyrov, who has often described himself as Putin’s ‘foot soldier’, has deployed his forces abroad to support Kremlin military operations before – in Syria and Georgia.
UK Metro reports that Russia’s defence ministry disclosed on Wednesday that its armed forces have captured the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson.
According to President Zelenskiy, nearly 6,000 Russians had been killed in the first six days of Moscow’s invasion, and that the Kremlin would not be able to take his country with bombs and air strikes.
