Grant Shapps has to cancel visit to Odesa due to Russian missile threat after ‘Putin’s men track his movements in Ukraine’
GRANT Shapps was forced to abandon a trip to the Black Sea port of Odesa in Ukraine due to a Russian missile threat.
Vladimir PutinThe minister’s men are said to have ‘became aware’ of the defense minister’s travel plans and his movements followed suit Ukraine.
6
6
6
Shapps flew off RAF Northolt Poland when informed that a convoy carrying Ukrainian President Zelensky and Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis was on board narrowly avoided a Russian missile attack during a visit to Odesa on March 6.
Ukrainian authorities said at least five people were killed in the explosion, which occurred just a few hundred meters from the deputies.
It meant the threat level to the security of Ukraine-bound Shapps rose ‘from substantial to critical’. The Sunday times reports.
Shapps traveled from Poland to Ukraine by night train with the chief of the defense staff, Admiral Sir Tony Radakin, and a small team of British officials, arriving in Kiev on March 7 for talks with Zelensky and senior members of his wartime government.
Read more about Grant Shapps
They were scheduled to continue on to Odessa, where bombings have recently increased in retaliation for Ukraine’s success in the Black Sea.
But the trip was called off after intelligence reported that the Russians had “become aware” of the group’s plans, according to The Sunday Times, which had exclusive access to the British delegation.
They reportedly had no choice but to return to Britain via Poland.
Shapps told The Sunday Times: “Putin has shown himself to be reckless, ruthless and careless.
“The fact that he came dangerously close to killing two Western leaders does not matter whether it was intentional or accidental.
“What on earth is he doing, and why on earth would the West let him do such things?”
The Department of Defense confirmed that Shapps did not make the trip.
A spokesperson said: “During a recent trip to Ukraine, the Minister of Defense did not make a planned visit to Odesa for security reasons.
“The UK continues to provide strong support to Ukraine and the Defense Secretary’s visit and engagements only underlined the importance of this support in the face of Putin’s aggression.”
The trip was Shapps’ second visit to Ukraine as Defense Secretary, and his third since the start of the war in February 2022.
Russia was this week believed to be jamming GPS and other signals on Shapps’ plane in an act of “electronic warfare”.
The signals were jammed for nearly 30 minutes as the defense minister flew past Kaliningrad, a Russian exclave bordering Poland.
The Sun’s defense editor, Jerome Starkey, was aboard the RAF Dassault Falcon 900 at the time.
A defense source branded the outage as ‘extremely irresponsible’.
They said: “While the RAF is well prepared to deal with this, it still poses an unnecessary risk to civilian aircraft and could potentially endanger people’s lives.
“There is no excuse for this and it is largely irresponsible on Russia’s part.”
And Putin claimed he is willing to launch nuclear weapons if he believes that the West threatens Russian sovereignty.
He declared that weapons “exist for the sake of using them” in his most chilling World War III threat yet.
The tyrant was reportedly preparing for a major conflict when Ukrainian hackers leaked crucial government documents.
The bombshell papers, which appeared to be supposedly signed by Putin revealed his chilling plans to attack Europe if Ukraine is defeated.
A five-step plan that will then be introduced Russian mock elections was centered around five key ideas: nationalization of key industries, an increase in censorship, crushing the opposition, the total de-Westernization of Russia and the ‘export of chaos’ to all of Europe.
The despot will almost certainly win another six-year term the presidential elections will be held this weekend.
6
6
6
