Kyiv has also denied claims by Vladimir Putin that his troops have encircled its units in the Kursk Oblast.

Oleksandr Syrskyi, the commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, said: “This is blatant disinformation that does not reflect the real situation. Ukrainian forces continue active operations on the Kursk front, for the third consecutive month, depleting the enemy’s combat potential.”

The Russian president insisted this week that his army was making progress in taking back occupied parts of the Kursk region, telling state television that the Ukrainian troops “do not even really understand that they are encircled”.

Russia continued its attacks on Ukrainian population centres including Dnipro and Kyiv on Friday night. Missile attacks on Dnipro killed three people and left a further nine injured.

Mr Zelensky has reportedly snubbed António Guterres, the UN secretary general, after he attended the Brics summit hosted by Mr Putin in the city of Kazan this week.

Mr Guterres had planned to visit Kyiv after the summit, but a government source told the BBC that “after Kazan and after he shook hands with the war’s instigator and spent UN Day on the territory of the aggressor country, it would be somehow strange to host him here”.

The G7 nations have also finalised the details of a $50 billion loan to Kyiv taken from frozen Russian assets.

The group of seven large democracies said that it had “reached a consensus on how to deliver” the funds.