Last week, UK Defence Secretary Grant Shapps cancelled a planned trip to southern Ukraine at the last minute for “security reasons”, according to the Ministry of Defence. The Sunday Times reported that the trip was aborted after an intelligence update revealed that Russia was aware of the defence secretary’s travel plans. The cancellation followed a missile strike in Odesa that resulted in five deaths. The Ukrainian president and Greek prime minister were in the city at the time of the strike.
Shapps’ trip to Ukraine was his second as defence secretary. The aim of the trip was to meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and other top officials in his war administration.
An RAF plane carrying Shapps from the UK to Poland earlier this week had its GPS signal jammed while flying close to Russian territory.
Shapps told the Sunday Times that “Putin has shown himself to be reckless, ruthless and careless,” and questioned why the west would allow him to act in such a manner. A Ministry of Defence spokesperson stated that Shapps’ visit “underscored the importance” of the UK’s strong support of Ukraine amid Russian aggression.
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