Prince Harry has made a surprise visit to Kyiv following an invitation from the Ukrainian government, vowing to do “everything possible” to aid the recovery of the thousands of military personnel seriously injured in the three-year war against Russia.
During his trip to the Ukrainian capital, the Duke of Sussex and a team from his Invictus Games Foundation are expected to announce new initiatives to support rehabilitation programs for the wounded, with the long-term aim of expanding help across the country.
Earlier this year, it was estimated that the war had already left 130,000 people with permanent disabilities. The Ukrainian government has since placed rehabilitation through sport at the heart of its veteran care policy.
Harry said he was first invited to Kyiv by Olga Rudnieva, founder and CEO of the Superhumans Trauma Centre in Lviv, which treats wounded amputees. He previously visited the centre in April, but later reconnected with Rudnieva during a chance meeting in New York.
“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,” he explained.
“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.”
Ukraine first joined the Invictus Games in 2017, but enthusiasm for the competition—founded by Prince Harry in 2014 to support wounded veterans—has grown significantly since the conflict with Russia began.
Reflecting on Ukraine’s participation in the 2022 games in The Hague, Harry said:
“We cannot stop the war, but what we can do is everything possible 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 bring it home to people, because it’s easy to become desensitised to what has been going on.”
“It was remarkable. Every one of the participants had a journey to get to those games, but nobody from any of the other competing nations was going back to war. That is why the Ukrainians stood out. Everyone felt an immense connection to them. Some of the competitors were being pulled off the battlefield and were going back to the battlefield. It means so much to us, because it means so much to them.”
As part of his visit, the Prince will tour the National Museum of the History of Ukraine in the Second World War and spend time with 200 veterans, who have been specially invited. He will also meet Ukrainian prime minister Yulia Svyrydenko.
The Invictus Games Foundation has increasingly expanded its sports recovery programs beyond the biennial games, providing equipment and opportunities for veterans to rehabilitate through sport.
Natalia Kalmykova, Ukraine’s minister for veterans affairs, highlighted the impact of this partnership:
“Sport has become a key function in veterans’ healthcare. It’s thanks to our relationship with the Invictus Games Foundation that we established, and continue to develop, the role of sports in recovery in Ukraine and why it’s included in the veteran policy strategy.”
By March this year, more than 22,000 veterans across Ukraine had already accessed benefits such as gym memberships and swimming passes.