In a surprise visit, Prince Harry, the Duke of Sussex, reached Ukraine’s capital Kyiv on Friday by taking an overnight train, the country’s railways said. The “Spare” author had to take permission from Meghan and the UK government before coming to the war-torn capital.
“I had to check with my wife and the British government to make sure it was OK,” New York Post quoted Harry as saying. He vowed do “everything possible” to assist thousands of Ukrainian soldiers, including wounded service personnel. “We cannot stop the war but what we can do is do everything we can to help the recovery process,” Harry said, according to British paper The Guardian.
He added, “We cannot stop the war but what we can do is do everything we can to help the recovery process. We can continue to humanize the people involved in this war and what they are going through. We have to keep it in the forefront of people’s minds. I hope this trip will help to bring it home to people because it’s easy to become desensitized to what has been going on.”
The Ukrainian Railways took to X to share the announcement and said, “Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex arrived in Kyiv by train to see first-hand the destruction caused by Russia’s full-scale invasion.” Harry’s visit overlaps with a trip to Kyiv by British Foreign Minister Yvette Cooper, marking her first international visit since assuming the position last week. The prince was in Ukraine with a team from the Invictus Games Foundation, an organisation that assists wounded military personnel, AFP reported.
During his most recent visit to Ukraine, Prince Harry stopped at the Superhumans Centre, an orthopedic facility in Lviv that offers care to injured military members and civilians, PTI report noted. The center provides free services, including prosthetic limbs, reconstructive surgeries and psychological support.
Prince Harry unites with his father after 19 months
The prince’s visit to Ukraine comes after a four-day stay in the UK, during which he reunited with his father, King Charles III, for the first time in 19 months. The meeting was viewed as an initial move toward mending the strained relationship between Harry and the rest of the royal family, which has been tense since he and his wife, formerly Meghan Markle, stepped away from royal duties and relocated to California in 2020, the report added.
Harry and King Charles had previously seen each other in February 2024, when Harry traveled to London upon learning of his father’s cancer diagnosis. That visit lasted about 45 minutes before the king departed for his Sandringham estate to recover from treatment.