Vladimir Putin himself stopped military commanders from taking out Zelensky last year, according to one of his closest allies.

Belarus president Alexander Lukashenko, who famously called the Russian leader his ‘elder brother’, says Putin forbade plans to strike the headquarters of the Ukrainian presidency in Bankova area of Kyiv.

It came after the Russian doomsday missile system Oreshnik was tested without live warheads in the Ukrainian city of Dnipro in November 2024.

It sparked the plot to target Zelensky’s bunker and the heart of the government, according to Lukashenko, but Putin had other ideas.

He said: ‘After they struck with the Oreshnik, the Ukrainians realised: trouble’.

‘They can also hit Bankova. Insider information for you. Somone in Russia had such plans – (I will not name them).

‘Putin said: “Under no circumstances”.

‘They were ready to strike.

‘If they had fired the Oreshnik at the centres of decision-making, there would have been nothing left there’.