Russian Assassination Plot against President Zelenskyy Prevented-Official

Ukrainian authorities confirmed, on Tuesday, that a plot to assassinate Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has been prevented.

Oleksiy Danilov, secretary of the country's National Security and Defense Council, revealed that local forces successfully stopped the plan to kill Zelenskyy, according to a Telegram message from Ukrainian officials.

Danilov stated that a group of elite Chechen special forces, known as Kadyrovites, were behind the assassination attempt and have since been "eliminated," per Axios.

"We are very well aware of the special operation that was to take place directly by the Kadyrovites to eliminate our president," Danilov said, noting that the Kadyrovite unit was pided into two, with one being destroyed in Gostomel and the other "under fire."

Members of Russia's Federal Security Service, who do not support the war, have informed the Ukrainian authorities about the assassination plot, according to Danilov.

In a video statement released on Thursday, Zelenskyy said he had been the prime target of the Russian government since they began its invasion of his country last week, according to CNN reports.

"According to our information, the enemy marked me as target No. 1, my family as target No. 2," Zelenskyy said. "They want to destroy Ukraine politically by destroying the head of state. We have information that enemy sabotage groups have entered Kyiv."

Later on, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki affirmed that the U.S. government had been in touch with Zelenskyy and was aware of his whereabouts.

"We're not going to get into security questions, but … we are working to provide him a range of support," Psaki said.