Prince Harry’s secret trip to Ukraine to visit war casualties

Prince Harry gave dozens of war casualties a surprise this week in a visit that was wrapped so tightly, nobody knew he was there until he was back in the air.

Prince Harry has dropped into Ukraine to visit war casualties, becoming the second British royal to travel to the country since Russia’s invasion in February 2022.

For security reasons, the trip was only announced after Harry, a former British Army captain, had left the conflict-torn nation.

King Charles III’s younger son visited the Superhumans Center, an orthopaedic clinic that treats and helps rehabilitate wounded military personnel and civilians. He was accompanied by members of his Invictus Games Foundation, a multi-sport event he founded in 2014 for injured serving and former soldiers.

Harry also met Ukraine’s minister of veterans affairs Natalia Kalmykova. He made the trip to Lviv after sitting in a London court on Tuesday and Wednesday for his appeal against a government decision to scale back his police protection when he visits Britain.

The downgrade came after Harry and his wife Meghan Markle quit frontline royal duties in 2020 and moved to the United States.

His aunt, Sophie, Duchess of Edinburgh — who is married to Charles’s youngest brother, Prince Edward — visited Kyiv in April last year.

Last month, Charles welcomed Volodymyr Zelensky to his country estate at Sandringham in eastern England just days after the Ukrainian president received a White House dressing down by US President Donald Trump and Vice-President JD Vance.

Britain's Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex (front row C) posing for a photograph during a visit to the Superhumans Centre in Lviv, Ukraine on April 10, 2025, where he toured the centre and met with patients and medical professionals. (Photo by The Duke and Duchess of Sussex © 2021 / AFP)

King Charles III’s younger son visited the Superhumans Center, an orthopaedic clinic that treats and helps rehabilitate wounded military personnel and civilians. (Photo by YANA STUKACH / The Duke and Duchess of Sussex © 2021 / AFP)

Harry’s visit came as the UK unveiled a fresh £450 million (A$939 million) military aid package for Ukraine as part of a broader effort to strengthen Western resolve against Russia’s ongoing war.

The announcement comes ahead of a high-level meeting in Brussels where fifty nations are expected to align efforts to “pile pressure” on Vladimir Putin, in the words of UK Defence Secretary John Healey.

“We must step up to deter Russian aggression by continuing to bolster Ukraine’s defences,” Healey said, framing the package not just as support but as a strategic necessity.

Britain's Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex waves as he departs the Royal Courts of Justice, Britain's High Court, in central London, on April 9, 2025 following the second day of his appeal hearing to over the downgrading of his personal security during visits in Britain. Prince Harry's lawyer outlined in court threats made against him, including calls for his murder, as King Charles's youngest son appealed on April 8, 2025 against an "unjustified" decision to restrict his police protection in the UK. (Photo by HENRY NICHOLLS / AFP)

The aid includes more than £250 million (A$540 million) for what the government called a “close fight” package: radar systems, anti-tank mines, and hundreds of thousands of drones.

A further £160 million ($A334 million) will go toward maintenance and repairs for vehicles and military hardware already delivered by the UK, with Norway contributing additional funding through the UK-led International Fund for Ukraine.

“The work of this group is vital to put Ukraine in the strongest possible position,” Healey said, adding, “2025 is the critical year for Ukraine. Our job as defence ministers is to put into the hands of the Ukrainian war fighters what they need.”

This week’s gathering follows another recent meeting of the “coalition of the willing,” a group of 30 nations led by France and the UK, which convened in Brussels to explore options for ensuring long-term peace in Ukraine.