Grant Shapps abandons visit to Ukraine due to security threat – Ministry of Defense

The UK Ministry of Defense announced that Grant Shapps had canceled a visit to southern Ukraine last week for “security reasons”.

The Defense Secretary was forced to cancel a trip to Odesa last week after British intelligence reportedly warned that Russia was aware of his travel plans.

According to Ukrainian authorities, five people were killed in the attack.

Mr Shapps was traveling by night train from Poland to Ukraine, accompanied by Chief of the Defense Staff Sir Tony Radakin and a small team of British officials. The purpose of their trip was to meet with Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky and senior officials of the wartime government.

However, Mr Shapps arrived in Kyiv on March 7 and his trip to Odessa was abruptly canceled at the last minute due to safety concerns.

The Sunday Times, whose reporters were accompanying the delegation, said the trip was canceled after an intelligence update revealed the Kremlin knew about it.

It added that the strike in Odesa the previous day had raised the threat level to Mr Shapps' safety from serious to critical.

Mr Shapps told the newspaper: “Putin has shown himself to be reckless, ruthless and careless.”

“The fact that he came dangerously close to essentially assassinating two Western leaders, whether it was intentional or accidental, doesn't matter.

“What on earth is he doing? And why on earth would the West let him do such a thing?”

“During his recent visit to Ukraine, the Secretary of Defense postponed his scheduled visit to Odessa for security reasons,” a Defense Ministry spokesperson said.

“The UK continues to provide strong support to Ukraine and the Secretary of Defense's visit and engagement only underlined the importance of this support in the face of Putin's aggression.”

Earlier this week, it emerged that the GPS signal of a Royal Air Force plane carrying Mr Shapps between the UK and Poland was jammed as it flew near Russian territory.