LONDON: Grant Shapps Scraps Trip to Southern Ukraine Due to Security Concerns
LONDON — Grant Shapps had to cancel his planned visit to Odesa in southern Ukraine last week for “security reasons”, as reported by the UK Defense Ministry.
The UK defense secretary had to abort his trip after UK intelligence warned that Russia had become aware of his travel plans.
Shapps was scheduled to travel to Odesa the day after a missile struck the city while the Ukrainian president and the Greek prime minister were visiting, resulting in the deaths of five people, according to Ukrainian authorities.
Accompanied by chief of the defense staff, Adm Sir Tony Radakin, and a small team of British officials, Shapps had traveled on an overnight train from Poland to Ukraine with the aim of meeting Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky and senior members of his wartime administration.
However, upon arriving in Kyiv on March 7, Shapps’s trip to Odesa was abruptly canceled at the last minute due to concerns about his safety.
Reports from the Sunday Times, which had a reporter traveling with the delegation, revealed that the trip was called off after an intelligence update indicated that the Kremlin was aware of it.
Shapps expressed his concerns, stating, “Putin has shown himself to be reckless, ruthless, and careless. The fact that he came perilously close to essentially assassinating two western leaders is alarming.”
A Ministry of Defense spokesperson emphasized the UK’s strong support for Ukraine in the face of Putin’s aggression, despite the cancellation of Shapps’s visit to Odesa.
Recent incidents, including an RAF plane carrying Shapps experiencing GPS signal jamming while flying close to Russian territory, have added to the tensions between Russia and Western countries.
As the situation escalates, the Latvian foreign minister has called on NATO countries, including the UK, to consider conscription as a deterrent against Russia’s actions.
Latvia re-introduced conscription earlier this year, requiring men aged between 18 and 27 to complete 11 months of military service to bolster its army.
When asked about following Latvia’s model, Krisjanis Karins emphasized the importance of conscription as a defense measure.
