Councillor caught in air raid while on aid mission

A councillor on a humanitarian mission to Ukraine was forced to take shelter as Russian missiles rained down around his hotel.

Jordan Meade, 28, is a Conservative member of both Kent County and Gravesham Borough councils.

Ten hypersonic rockets, 62 X-101 missiles, dozens of drones and other weapons were launched during the attack on Kyiv on 2 January.

Mr Meade, who was delivering baby clothing, children’s books and medical supplies, said: "Sitting in that basement bomb shelter, you couldn’t help wondering if just one of those missiles got through, that would be it.”

Mr Meade was on his second mission to the city.

He headed for the shelter in his hotel when he heard a hypersonic missile explosion at about the same time he received an alert warning on a Ukrainian app and the air raid sirens sounded, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

He said: “It would be wrong to say that I thought I was going to die but it was a very scary experience, which brought home the realities of war that the Ukrainians have to endure almost every day.

“In the shelter, to see children sob and cling for their parents’ hands after each explosion was a harrowing reminder of the civilian suffering.

“Had it not been for the Patriot air defence systems and the skill of the Ukrainian defence forces, the situation could have been catastrophically different for all of us in Kyiv that morning.”

He added: “It was the first time that I had felt proper fear, as the buildings shook and the explosions echoed throughout the city.

“My heart aches for the Ukrainians who have to endure this daily.”

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