Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi cannot travel without his senior Ukrainian nurse, described as a “voluptuous blonde” in a leaked secret report filed by the US ambassador to Libya.

The cable sent to Washington in September last year gives a glimpse of Col Gaddafi’s eccentricities. It speaks of his “intense dislike or fear” of staying on the upper floors of buildings and his preference not to fly over water.

The leaked cable was one of more than 200 classified US documents leaked by whistleblower site WikiLeaks yesterday. This first batch forms part of more than 250,000 highly classified documents the site will be releasing.

According to WikiLeaks, there are 137 reports linked to Malta but by yesterday none of these had yet been posted on its website.

A Foreign Ministry spokesman said there had been no briefing from the US embassy in Malta as to the nature of the leaks as had happened over the weekend in other countries.

The documents detailed confidential discussions between US and foreign government officials and in many instances the candid views of US ambassadors and State Department officials on world leaders and events.

Among the more serious messages are those that focus on Iran’s nuclear ambitions, with secret documents showing Persian Gulf states such as Saudi Arabia and Bahrain urging the US to bomb Iran.

The US and world governments yesterday frantically sought to contain the damage caused by the hugely embarrassing leaks, condemning WikiLeaks and accusing it of endangering the lives of people, officials and informants.

The documents can be accessed on http://cablegate.wikileaks.org .