Prince Harry made an unannounced visit to Kyiv on Friday as part of his work with the Invictus Games, pledging to do "everything possible" to help thousands of Ukrainian soldiers and service personnel injured in the three-year war with Russia.
The Duke of Sussex flew to Poland and travelled by train to the Ukrainian capital, his first visit to Kyiv. Two days earlier, the city was struck by Russian cruise missiles and, on the same night, numerous Russian attack drones reportedly violated Polish airspace and were shot down. Harry said he had checked with his wife and the British government before travelling.
Harry said he was invited to Kyiv by Olga Rudneva, head of the Superhumans Trauma Centre in Lviv, after a chance encounter in New York. "She said 'the biggest impact you have is coming to Kyiv'," he told The Guardian. "I had to check with my wife and the British government to make sure it was OK. Then the official invitation came."
At meetings with wounded service personnel and medical staff, Harry reiterated that while outside actors cannot end the conflict, they can support recovery and rehabilitation. "We cannot stop the war but what we can do is do everything we can to help the recovery process," he said. "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."
The visit included members of the Invictus Games Foundation and a small contingent of veterans who have undergone similar rehabilitation experiences. The Superhumans Trauma Centre in Lviv, which Rudneva runs, provides prosthetics, reconstructive surgery and psychological support free of charge to people wounded in the conflict.
Harry, who served for a decade in the British Army and founded the Invictus Games in 2014, has made rehabilitation for injured service personnel a central cause. Ukraine has competed in the Invictus Games since 2017; Harry has previously spoken about being moved by Ukrainian participants, some of whom were pulled from the battlefield to compete and later returned to combat.
He previously visited Ukraine in April, travelling to Lviv to meet war victims and staff at rehabilitation centres. Photos from that unannounced trip showed him meeting dozens of wounded soldiers and speaking with injured children and adults.
Security and diplomatic considerations surrounded Friday’s visit, given the recent strikes on Kyiv and cross-border incidents. Organisers said the trip was undertaken with appropriate clearances, and Harry discussed the visit in the context of supporting long-term recovery rather than influencing military or political strategy.
His trip underlined ongoing international attention to the humanitarian and medical consequences of the conflict, as Ukrainian and international organisations continue to expand rehabilitation services for those injured since the Russian invasion began three years ago.