Prince Harry makes secret visit to Ukraine

Prince Harry made an unannounced visit to Ukraine on Thursday (Friday AEST).

The Duke of Sussex went to the Superhumans Centre in Lviv, in the west of Ukraine, where wounded soldiers and civilians are treated and rehabilitated.

The trip came a day after he appeared in a court in London to argue that he needed state-backed security for him and his family in the United Kingdom because his “life was at risk”.

Prince Harry wore a jacket emblazoned with the name of his Invictus Games Foundation as he talked to wounded Ukrainian veterans.Credit: Yana Stukach/Superhumans Center via AP

Prince Harry is the second member of the royal family to visit Ukraine since the war broke out in 2022 after Sophie, Duchess of Edinburgh, travelled there last year.

Last month, Prince William met Ukrainian refugees during a two-day visit to Estonia.

The duke’s visit, to an area that is a frequent target of Russian missiles, was not announced until after he had left Britain after returning from Ukraine. It is understood Buckingham Palace was not made aware of the trip in advance because the duke is no longer a working royal.

Photographs from Thursday’s visit showed him wearing a jacket emblazoned with the name of his Invictus Games Foundation as he talked to wounded Ukrainian veterans. He also met Natalia Kalmykova, Ukraine’s Minister of Veterans’ Affairs.

The visit by the duke, who lives in California, could be seen as a message to US President Donald Trump, who has aired his frustration with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and pushed for an end to the war.

When Russian President Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine in 2022, the Sussexes condemned the war and said they “stand with the people of Ukraine”.

“Prince Harry and Meghan, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex and all of us at Archewell stand with the people of Ukraine against this breach of international and humanitarian law and encourage the global community and its leaders to do the same,” they said in a statement.

The duke made the trip to Lviv to view the rehabilitation services being provided in a country actively experiencing war, a spokesman said, touring the centre and meeting patients and the surgical team. Ukraine has been a part of the Invictus Games since 2017, with service personnel and veterans engaging in the games.

The duke is thought to have travelled from London, where he flew from the United States to attend a two-day hearing in his effort to win automatic taxpayer-funded security for him and his family.

He is appealing against a decision by the royal and VIP executive committee to strip the Sussexes of their automatic police protection when they are in the UK. The decision was made in February 2020, shortly after Harry and Meghan announced they were stepping back from royal duties.

The duke landed in London on Sunday, hours before the King and Queen flew to Italy for a four-day state visit, but did not see them.

His trip to Ukraine came as Britain considers deploying troops to Ukraine for five years under plans being discussed by allies, London’s The Telegraph can disclose.

Military chiefs want the deployment to help train and reconstitute the Ukrainian army to prevent Putin from mounting a future invasion.

A scheme for a phased withdrawal was raised in the discussions being led by Britain and France over a “coalition of the willing” to uphold any post-conflict peace agreement.

The Telegraph, London

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