Prince Harry makes surprise visit to Ukraine
The Duke of Sussex, who served 10 years in the British Army, travelled to the capital to help with the recovery of military personnel seriously injured in the three-year war with Russia.
Friday 12 September 2025 18:44, UK
Prince Harry has made a surprise visit to the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv, a spokesperson for the royal has said.
Harry, who served 10 years in the British Army, visited the city at the invitation of the Ukrainian government.
The Duke of Sussex travelled to the capital to help with the recovery of military personnel seriously injured in the three-year war with Russia.
Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper also travelled to Kyiv on Friday in her first international trip since being appointed to the job last week.
Her visit coincides with the UK launching a new package of Russia-related sanctions targeting ships carrying Russian oil as well as companies and individuals supplying electronics, chemicals and explosives used to make Russian weapons.
It comes as Russia and Belarus began a major joint military exercise on NATO's doorstep on Friday, just two days after Poland, with support from its NATO allies, shot down suspected Russian drones over its airspace.
The Zapad-2025 exercise - a show of force by Russia and its close ally - will involve drills in both countries and in the Baltic and Barents seas, the Russian defence ministry said.
Meanwhile on the frontline, Russian defence systems intercepted and destroyed 221 Ukrainian drones overnight,
including nine over the Moscow region, the ministry said on Friday.
This trip marks an important milestone for Harry
Prince Harry's arrival in Ukraine was unexpected but not entirely surprising.
As he stepped off the train, he was warmly welcomed with a hug from the woman who'd encouraged him to go to the capital.
For the Duke of Sussex, this was a meaningful mission.
He knows his presence in Ukraine means a lot – to the country's people and its politicians.
The Ukrainian MP Inna Sovsun told me Prince Harry's visit "brings a new visibility to the war".
This is Harry's second time in Ukraine this year.
In April, he went to a rehabilitation centre in Lviv to meet military personnel wounded in the war.
His Invictus Games Foundation is working to help them and will continue to do so.
We're told he wants to do everything he can to support those injured in the conflict.
This short but significant trip marks another milestone at the end of an important week for the prince.
It's felt like a reset. Harry has been visibly happy to be home.
After the previous negative narrative, there is a renewed positivity.
He wants to come to the UK more often, and that now seems far more likely.
The duke told the Guardian while on an overnight train to Kyiv: "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."
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Harry, who served two tours in Afghanistan, previously travelled to Ukraine in April, when he visited war victims as part of his work with wounded veterans.
The prince visited the Superhumans Center, an orthopaedic clinic in Lviv that treats and rehabilitates wounded military personnel and civilians.
Earlier this week, Harry said the King is "great" after he reunited with him at Clarence House for a private tea.
It was their first meeting in 19 months and lasted just 54 minutes.
The last time the father and son saw each other was in February 2024 when the prince flew to the UK after the monarch announced his cancer diagnosis.
Harry and his wife Meghan Markle have lived in California since they quit roles as senior working royals in March 2020.