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Grant Shapps was reportedly forced to abandon a trip to the southern Ukrainian port city of Odesa after being warned by British intelligence that he could be the target of a Russian missile attack.
According to one report, the defense secretary was forced to cancel his visit after being warned that Russia was aware of his travel plans. sunday times Report confirmed by Ministry of Defense I correct.
After flying to Poland last week, Mr Shapps was visiting Odessa on March 6 when an armored convoy carrying Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis was nearly hit by a Russian missile attack. It is reported that he was informed that
Ukrainian authorities say the explosion killed five people and claim the news raises the threat to Mr Shapps’ safety from serious to critical.
Mr. Shapps, along with Chief of the Defense Staff Admiral Tony Radakin and a small team of British officials, took a night train from Poland and arrived in Kyiv on March 7 for talks with Mr. Zelenskiy and other senior officials of the wartime government.
However, the planned trip to Odessa was canceled after an intelligence update revealed the Kremlin’s knowledge.
Mr Shapps told the paper: “Putin has shown himself to be reckless, ruthless and careless, but…
“The fact that he came dangerously close to effectively assassinating two Western leaders, whether it was intentional or accidental, doesn’t matter. What on earth is he doing? Why on earth would the West let him do something like that?”
This is the Conservative Party’s second visit to Ukraine as defense secretary, and the third since the outbreak of war in February 2022.
This comes as Mr Zelensky faces a decline in Western enthusiasm for support for Kiev.
European countries are struggling to find enough arms and ammunition to send to Ukraine, and US aid worth $60bn (£47bn) has stalled over political differences in Washington. .
Republicans loyal to President Donald Trump have held up funding measures in Congress for months, and there is little hope that the U.S. will provide more money to Ukraine if the former president is re-elected.
On the battlefield, Ukrainian forces withdrew last month from the eastern city of Avdiivka, where they fought a fierce Russian offensive for four months despite being vastly outnumbered and outnumbered.
Mr Shapps said he hoped his visit would act as a “wake-up call” to “urge, persuade and even shame the rest of the world into action”.
British military leaders say Britain and other Western allies will need to increase investment by hundreds of billions of pounds to outpace Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has increased defense spending by nearly 70%, according to the Sunday Times. Says.
Mr Shapps this week called for military spending to be increased to 3% of gross domestic product (GDP), a measure of the size of the economy.
Rishi Sunak has said he wants to raise defense spending to 2.5% of GDP if economic conditions allow.
When asked whether the prime minister should set a date for the increase in defense spending before or during the election, the defense secretary told this newspaper: “Absolutely.”
A Ministry of Defense (MOD) spokesperson said: I: “During his recent visit to Ukraine, the Secretary of Defense did not make the scheduled visit to Odesa for security reasons.
“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.”
The Ministry of Defense said changes to itineraries are unusual and the Secretary of Defense’s team is well prepared to deal with the changes.
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Additional reporting from the Press Association.