A former public school boy who was once jailed for plotting to assassinate Vladimir Putin is in a serious condition after being gunned down in an apparent attempted contract killing.

Adam Osmayev, a former pupil of Wycliffe College who commanded a pro-Kiev battalion in the war in eastern Ukraine, was rushed to hospital after being shot twice by a hit man in Kiev on Thursday night.

Kiev police said in a statement that Mr Osmayev survived after his wife opened fire on the attacker, shooting him four times in the chest, hip and back.