Scottish Labour MP forced to take cover during Russian air raid on Ukraine

EXCLUSIVE: Glasgow South MP Gordon McKee has described how he scrambled to a bomb shelter in the middle of the night.

A Scottish Labour MP was forced to run for cover from a Russian air raid during an official visit to Ukraine.

Glasgow South MP Gordon McKee has described how he was woken up by a siren at his hotel in Kyiv and scrambled to a bomb shelter in the middle of the night.

He said the ordeal was "scary" but had given him "a glimpse of what the people of Ukraine go through every single day."

McKee was one of seven newly-elected MPs on a five-day visit to the Eastern European country for an international conference.

During the trip he saw Ukrainian president Volodmyr Zelenskyy, visited wounded soldiers and saw a bombed children's hospital.

McKee wrote in a diary for the Record: "Returning to our hotel before the midnight curfew, I head upstairs for much needed sleep.

"At around 1.40am, I’m awakened by a piercing sound. It is an air raid siren. The Russians are attacking.

"Over the hotel Tannoy, information is blasted out explaining the route to the bomb shelter. My phone’s alert app wails as I throw on my clothes.

"From my sixth floor hotel room, I walk down the fire exit stairs and toward the bunker.

"Two floors underground, in what used to be car park, but it is now a bomb shelter, I meet my colleagues.

"Handily, the hotel has set up beds in the shelter. Soon, the place fills up.

"The Ukrainians, for whom this is a nightly terror, quickly settle into their beds and fall asleep. In time, I do the same. Kyiv is surrounded by world class missile defence systems.

"And they work. Of the 76 Russian missiles fired at the city that night, 72 are shot out of the air.

"The biggest danger that night is from the shrapnel of the downed missiles. One hits a building in the city, but no casualties are reported.

"Of course, it is scary, but I came away with it with just a glimpse of what the people of Ukraine go through every single day.

"This is the terror Vladimir Putin inflicts on everyone in this country, whether they are on the front line or not."

McKee said he had been given advice about an air raid when he arrived at his accommodation but had doubted that would happen.

He wrote: "We arrive and check into our hotel - an otherwise normal experience, apart from the hand out explaining what to do in the event of a Russian missile attack.

"We’re for an international conference, so that’s not something I’ll have to worry about, I think to myself."

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He said he had been "apprehensive about entering a country at war" beforehand.

But he added that he was "glad I did, it was one of the most impactful trips of my entire life."

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