Prince Harry meets wounded veterans on surprise Ukraine visit

Prince Harry met wounded Ukrainian veterans, watched wheelchair rugby and praised the country’s rehabilitation work during a surprise visit to Lviv, telling injured service members: “You’re going to win the war.”

The Duke of Sussex spent two days at events for veterans, including Ukraine’s National Invictus Games and a conference for medics organised by Superhumans, a clinic specialising in rehabilitation for people wounded in the war. The BBC said a press blackout remained in place for security reasons until he had left Ukraine. It was his fourth visit to the country during the war.

“Every single time I come back to Ukraine, I feel welcome, I feel warmth, I feel encouragement,” Harry said at an Invictus awards ceremony, where the crowd chanted his name. He also said he had “taken a risk to come here,” according to Al Jazeera.

Ukraine has more than 150,000 injured war veterans, the BBC reported. Al Jazeera put the country’s total number of combat veterans at about 1.4 million and said more than 10 percent have disabilities.

At the Superhumans Center near Lviv, Harry saw treatment for severe injuries and met patients, including Ukrainian air assault forces veteran Mykhailo Damaskin. Damaskin, who was injured fighting in Kherson and had not been expected to walk again, can now walk with the aid of an experimental spinal cord stimulator implanted in his back. He cannot feel his feet and uses his eyes to control his steps; the device must be recharged every 12 hours.

“My goal is to go to the Invictus Games. I promised my father before he was killed that I’d be part of the team to represent Ukraine internationally,” Damaskin said. “I’ll prove to every guy with spinal cord injuries that life goes on after injury.”

Harry also sat beside Konstiantyn Vlasenko, who, the BBC reported, had remained at a front-line position for more than 200 days despite losing both feet. He was airlifted out by drone last month in what the broadcaster described as a first-of-its-kind rescue. Harry told Vlasenko he represented Ukraine’s resilience and called injured veterans “role models.”

At a sports centre, Harry watched wheelchair rugby, met competitors and tried pickleball. Al Jazeera reported that he hugged Valery Odainyk, a leg amputee who competed at last year’s Invictus Games in Canada and remains an active Ukrainian serviceman. Harry asked when he found time to train. Odainyk said his involvement in disability sport “all started and continues with the Invictus Games.”

The outlets gave different figures for participation ahead of the 2027 Games in Birmingham, England. The BBC said 400 wounded Ukrainian service members had taken part in trials; Al Jazeera said about 500 people had registered to compete for a planned 60-member team, Ukraine’s largest yet.

Harry founded the Invictus Games Foundation in 2014 to support wounded, injured and recovering service personnel and veterans through sport and other programmes. He told the veterans that, after the war, the foundation would be ready to support Ukraine in hosting an Invictus Games.

“Recovery cannot wait for the war to end,” said Rob Owen, the foundation’s chief executive. “The scale of need in Ukraine is huge, and wounded, injured and sick service personnel and veterans need the chance to rebuild their lives now.”