British Defense Minister cancels Odesa trip over Russian missile threat

The Guardian reported on the situation.

Shapps reportedly cancelled his visit after British intelligence warned him that the Russians were aware of his travel plans.

During his flight from RAF Northolt to Poland last week, Shapps was informed that an armored convoy carrying Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis had narrowly escaped a Russian missile strike while visiting Odesa on March 6. This development raised Shapps' security threat level from substantial to critical.

Shapps, along with a small team of British officials, arrived in Kyiv by night train from Poland on March 7 for discussions with Zelenskyy and Ukrainian government members.

However, according to the Sunday Times, a planned visit to Odesa was scrapped after intelligence suggested that the Kremlin was aware of it.

“Putin has shown himself to be reckless, ruthless and careless,” Shapps, who instead traveled back to the UK via Poland, told the outlet. “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?”

Shapps stated that he had to forego the planned visit to Odesa during his recent trip to Ukraine due to security concerns.

Reportedly, this was Shapps' second trip to Ukraine as Defense Secretary and the third since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

• On March 7, the President of Ukraine met with Grant Shapps in Kyiv.