The defense secretary was informed by officials that Russia knew of his intended trip to Odesa, where Volodymyr Zelenskyy and the prime minister of Greece were traveling in a convoy that had just missed an air strike.
The news, which had access to the delegation and was the first to reveal the shelved plans, said that revelation elevated the threat rating to critically important for Mr. Shapps’s safety.
Mr. Shapps arrived in Kyiv on March 7th after taking an overnight train from Poland with Chief of Staff Admiral Sir Tony Radakin and a small group of British officials.
However, the intended continuation to Odesa was canceled following the disclosure of the Kremlin’s awareness of it in an intelligence report.
