Prince Harry makes surprise visit to Kyiv

Prince Harry arrived in Kyiv on a surprise visit on Friday, September 12, at the invitation of the Ukrainian government, saying he wanted to do “everything possible” to help in the recovery of Ukrainian servicemen seriously injured in the war against Russia.

The Guardian reported the news, CE Report quotes Ukrinform.

In Kyiv, Harry and his team from the Invictus Games Foundation are set to unveil new initiatives to support the rehabilitation of wounded soldiers, with the possibility of expanding assistance across all regions of Ukraine.

Speaking to The Guardian on the overnight train to the capital, the Duke of Sussex said: “We cannot stop the war but what we can do is do everything we can to help the recovery process.”

“We can continue to humanise 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 desensitised to what has been going on,” he added.

Harry explained that he was initially invited to Kyiv by Olha Rudnieva, the founder and CEO of the Superhumans Trauma Center in Lviv, which treats soldiers with amputations. He visited the center in April, but met her by chance a couple of months ago in the US.

“I bumped into Olga in New York. It was a chance meeting and I asked her what I could do to help. She said ‘the biggest impact you have is coming to Kyiv’. I had to check with my wife and the British government to make sure it was OK. Then the official invitation came. In Lviv, you don’t see much of the war. It is so far west. This is the first time we will see the real destruction of the war,” Harry said.

During the trip, the Prince is due to visit the National Museum of the History of Ukraine in the Second World War. He is expected to spend time with 200 veterans, who have also been invited.

He is also due to meet Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko.