Prince Harry has met with war victims in a surprise visit to war-torn Ukraine – after spending two days in the London High Court arguing his life was in danger in the UK.
The Duke of Sussex on Thursday visited the Superhumans Center, an orthopedic clinic in Lviv that treats and rehabilitates injured military personnel and civilians.
Photos shared in the evening showed the royal with a smile ear-to-ear, posing with dozens of wounded soldiers.
One image showed the Duke with a solemn expression as he chatted to a visibly injured youngster.
The visit to the area in western Ukraine, that has frequently been targeted with Russian missiles, was not announced until after Harry was out of the country.
The Duke travelled to Ukraine after spending two days in the Royal Courts of Justice in London, where he is appealing the decision to strip him of his government-funded protection.
It came after he quit working as a member of the Royal Family in 2020 following Megxit.
The Duke flew 5,000 miles from his home in California to attend the two-day hearing to win automatic state security for him, his wife Meghan Markle and their two children Archie and Lilibet.
Harry, who served 10 years in the British Army, has long made helping injured soldiers one of his most prominent causes – founding the Invictus Games in 2014 to offer wounded veterans the chance to compete in sports events similar to the Paralympics.
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Prince Harry, pictured on Tuesday, talks with a person who was wounded in war with Russia at the Superhumans Center
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The Duke takes photos with people who were wounded in war with Russia at the Superhumans Center in Ukraine
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The prince was joined in Ukraine by a contingent from the Invictus Games Foundation, including four veterans who have been through similar rehabilitation experiences.
The centre offers prosthetics, reconstructive surgery and psychological help free of charge.
Harry was invited by the chief executive of Superhumans Centre, Olga Rudneva, a year ago and again at Invictus Games in February.
He was joined by a group from the Invictus Games Foundation, including four veterans who have been through similar experiences to the veterans and civilians who are being rehabilitated at this centre.
They toured the centre, met patients and medical professionals, and visited with the surgical team to better understand the state-of-the-art services being provided.
The Duke also met with members of the Ukrainian Invictus community as part of the visit, underlining the Foundation’s dedication to empowering individuals affected by conflict and injury.
Harry met with Ukraine’s Minister of Veterans Affairs, Natalia Kalmykova and reconnected with members of the Ukranian Invictus Games community, including Yulia (Taira) Paievska, a Team Ukraine competitor.
While in London’s High Court this week, the Prince claimed he was ‘singled out’ for ‘inferior treatment’ when the Executive Committee for the Protection of Royalty and Public Figures (Ravec) stripped him of his top-level security in February 2020 after he moved out of the UK.
But Sir James Eadie KC, representing the Home Office, said it had discretion to strip his guaranteed full time police security without consulting the Risk Management Board (RMB) quango.
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Harry just spent two days in the London High Court fighting for his security after quitting the Royal Family
Prince Harry arrives at High Court for day two of showdown
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Prince Harry’s security was cut after he decided to ‘spend most of the time abroad’, High Court told
‘RMB risk analysis is the usual approach in usual cases,’ he told the High Court. ‘But there is nothing about the appellant’s [Prince Harry’s] announcement in January 2020 that he was to step back from his role in the Royal family, and spend most of the time abroad, that was usual.’
The California-based royal is challenging the dismissal of his High Court legal action against the Home Office.
It stems from the decision by Ravec that he should receive a different degree of protection when in the country of his birth because he stepped down as a full-time royal. The case has cost the British taxpayer £500,000 so far.
Prince Harry’s lawyer Shaheed Fatima KC insisted that Ravec failed to follow its own guidelines and should have commissioned an assessment of the Duke’s security needs from the Risk Management Board (RMB).
The prince is no stranger to war, having served two tours in Afghanistan, where he flew missions as an Apache helicopter copilot gunner.
Harry, 40, is the second member of the royal family to visit Ukraine. His aunt, Sophie, the Duchess of Edinburgh, became the first British royal to travel to the country since Russia’s 2022 invasion when she made an unannounced visit to Kyiv last year.
The royal family has been outspoken in their support for Ukraine. King Charles warmly greeted President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in a show of support at his estate on the North Sea coast just two days after his extraordinary dressing down by U.S. President Donald Trump at the White House.
Harry’s older brother, Prince William, met with Ukrainian refugees during a two day visit to Estonia last month.
