PRINCE Harry has made a surprise visit to Kyiv and hailed Ukraine for “bravely and successfully” defending Europe from Russia.
Harry travelled to Kyiv by train after a deadly Russian drone strike hit a railway yard in Ukraine’s southern Zaporizhzhia province where at least one worker was killed.
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Prince Harry arrives at Kyiv train station as he makes a surprise visit to the Ukrainian capital Credit: News Group Newspapers ltd
The Duke arrived in Kyiv today via train – his third trip since the invasion Credit: THE SUN
He said it was good to be back in the country Credit: News Group Newspapers ltd
Defiant Harry, 41, told The Jattvibe: “It’s good to be back in Ukraine – a country bravely and successfully defending Europe’s eastern flank.”
He added: “It matters that we don’t lose sight of the significance of that.”
He was greeted by Ramina Arseniy Yatsenyuk, executive director of the Open Ukraine Foundation, who organised the Kyiv Security Forum.
In a speech to world leaders in Kyiv today, the prince is expected to frame Ukraine as “the frontline of democracy itself”.
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He will condemn Putin’s war crimes as “systematic and intentional” and warn the struggle in Ukraine is “a war about values, not just territory”.
Moscow has fired over a thousand missiles and drones at Ukraine over the previous seven days.
Parts of Kyiv are still without heating after relentless Kremlin strikes on energy infrastructure over the winter.
The Duke of Sussex said he hoped “to remind people back home and around the world what Ukraine is up against”.
In his speech to the Kyiv Security Forum, he will urge the world not “become numb to the conflict”.
It is Harry’s third visit to war-torn Ukraine since Putin unleashed his full-scale invasion on February 24, 2022.
The former British soldier is also expected to visit de-miners from the Halo Trust charity, which was championed by his late mother Princess Diana.
Halo credit Princess Diana with helping to secure a global mine ban – signed by 122 countries – after she visited a minefield in Angola in 1997.
Harry, who spent 10 years in the British Army, is also expected to spend time with Ukraine’s participants in his Invictus Games Foundation, which helps wounded veterans recover through sport.
Harry said: “I’m here to get on the ground, to re-connect and listen, to remind people back home and around the world what Ukraine is up against and to support the people and partners doing extraordinary work every hour of every day in incredibly tough conditions.”
His trip to Ukraine follows a four-day visit to Australia last week with wife Meghan.
The dad-of-two added: “I’m looking forward to seeing friends and re-connecting with the Invictus community again and standing alongside those helping Ukraine win this fight.”
Harry made two visits to Ukraine last year, in April and September, as a guest of Superhumans charity, which provides cutting-edge prosthetics and rehabilitation for wounded warriors and civilians.
Sophie, the Duchess of Edinburgh, was the first British royal to visit Ukraine during the war in April 2024 while Princess Anne also visited in October.
King Charles has shown his support by regularly meeting President Zelensky, including at Sandringham last year, just days after the war leader had been humiliated by President Trump in the White House.
Prince William visited British soldiers based in Estonia, on Nato’s eastern flank, last year.
He hailed Ukraine’s “resilience” and rode in a Challenger 2 tank in a symbolic show of Britain’s military presence to deter a Russian assault on NATO.
Harry is warmly greeted by a hug as he arrives Credit: News Group Newspapers ltd
Parts of Kyiv are still without heating after relentless Kremlin strikes on energy infrastructure over the winter Credit: News Group Newspapers ltd
