Defence Secretary Grant Shapps was compelled to abort a visit to Ukraine’s southern port metropolis of Odesa due to a Russian missile menace.
The Cabinet minister was reportedly warned by British intelligence that the Kremlin was conscious of his journey plans throughout a go to to the war-torn nation final week.
As he flew to Poland on RAF Northolt earlier than travelling on to Ukraine he was notified that an armoured convoy carrying Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and the Greek PM Kyriakos Mitsotakis narrowly averted a Russian missile strike whereas visiting Odesa.
The incident raised the menace stage to Mr Shapps’ security from substantial to vital, in keeping with The Sunday Times, which had entry to the delegation.
Mr Shapps, who travelled with chief of the defence workers Admiral Sir Tony Radakin, took an in a single day practice from Poland, arriving in Kyiv on March 7 for talks with Zelensky and his wartime administration. But the deliberate onward journey to Odesa was known as off after an intelligence replace revealed the Kremlin’s data of it.
Mr Shapps instructed The Sunday Times: “Putin has shown himself to be reckless, ruthless and careless. The fact that he came perilously close to essentially assassinating two western leaders, it doesn’t matter whether that is deliberate or accidental. What the hell is he doing, and why the heck would the West allow him to do that kind of thing?”
A Ministry of Defence spokesman instructed The Mirror: “On a recent trip to Ukraine, the Defence Secretary did not make a planned visit to Odesa for security reasons. The UK continues to provide strong support for Ukraine and the Defence Secretary’s visit and engagements only underscored the importance of this support in the face of Putin’s aggression.”
It comes simply days after it was reported a aircraft carrying Mr Shapps had its sign blocked by Russian hackers on a go to to Poland. The scare – which noticed the plane’s GPS and web connection jammed for round half-hour – has been blamed on Vladimir Putin’s forces. The Cabinet Minister was on the outskirts of Kaliningrad when the RAF Dassault Falcon 900 was focused yesterday.
A supply instructed The Mirror that the plane wasn’t at risk when it occurred, and added that situations like this are “not unusual” within the space.