Britain’s Defence Secretary John Healey dashes to bomb shelter during missile attack on first official visit to Ukraine
BRITAIN’S new Defence Secretary dashed for cover from Vladimir Putin’s missiles yesterday on his first official visit to Ukraine.
John Healey was scrambled to a bomb shelter as air raid sirens rang out across Odesa.
Talks carried on underground with Mr Healey telling President Volodymyr Zelensky he would sit shoulder to shoulder as Ukraine’s firmest friend.
On Thursday night Mr Healey was awaiting the election results in a South Yorkshire sports hall.
Fast forward 72 hours and he was being rushed to a bomb shelter in the Black Sea city.
He had been welcomed by counterpart Rustem Umerov when word of a cruise missile strike quickly spread through the room.
The pair and Chief of Defence staff Admiral Sir Tony Radakin were rushed to the basement of a Soviet-era building acting as Mr Umerov’s temporary HQ.
Faded wall posters showed the protocol for dealing with a nuclear and chemical fallout as mismatching tables and chairs were hastily set up in the sweltering-hot bunker.
Calm and cool Mr Healey then insisted talks carry on.
Only a lock of hair and a slightly damp brow on the head of the usually dapper British ambassador was amiss.
Mr Healey rolled up his shirt sleeves and carried on as if it was totally normal.
This is the daily life for hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians 2½ years into Putin’s war.
But it was an unusual crash course for any British politician in the second day in the job.
Around 35 minutes later, the all clear was given and the pair returned upstairs for the normal diplomatic niceties.
The bomb threat was one of many across Ukraine yesterday.
It came hours after Ukraine shot down 13 Shahed kamikaze drones in an overnight attack.
A pregnant woman was seriously wounded in a blitz in nearby Kherson yesterday.
The port cities are always in range of Russian jets, submarines and warships — armed with long-range cruise missiles.
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Mr Healey’s predecessor Grant Shapps aborted a visit to Odesa in March over fears Russian spies had his plans.
Greece’s PM Kyriakos Mitsotakis was meeting Mr Zelensky at the time and Mr Shapps said Putin had come “perilously close to essentially assassinating two western leaders”.
Healey: I’ll be voice for veterans
By Harry Cole, Political Editor
SIR Keir Starmer has scrapped the standalone Cabinet-level post of Veterans’ Minister, The Sun can reveal.
The new PM risked a major row with campaigners by asking Defence Secretary John Healey to take on the role of representing veterans.
Mr Healey said: “What veterans need is a Defence Secretary that is a fully fledged voice around the Cabinet table, not an extra in the back row.”
He brushed off the threat of a backlash by pledging that people would judge him by his efforts to improve the system.
But SAS veteran and writer Andy McNab said: “Veterans need a champion. Healey will have enough on his plate as Defence Secretary, with everything going on.”
Under Rishi Sunak, former Army officer Johnny Mercer, who lost his Plymouth seat on Thursday, had held the Veterans’ Minister post.
During the campaign, Sir Keir declined to sign the Help For Heroes pledge to keep a bespoke voice for ex-soldiers.