Harry hails wounded veterans as ‘role models’ during surprise visit to Ukraine

The Duke of Sussex has hailed Ukraine’s wounded veterans as “role models” with “so much to give to society” on the second day of a surprise visit to the country.Harry watched players in the western city of Lviv compete in the black and yellow colours of the Invictus Games which he founded in 2014 to support the recovery and rehabilitation of wounded, injured and sick military service personnel and veterans.Lviv marked the duke’s fourth visit to Ukraine since the start of the conflict with Russia, which is more than any other member of the royal family.Harry said the opportunity to visit again was “amazing” and “fantastic”.Ukraine was holding heats to select players in disciplines including the new sport of pickleball to compete at next year’s Games in Birmingham.Harry attended trials for the Invictus Games Ukraine teamPAAs the final winners were named during a closing ceremony on Sunday, the audience broke out into a spontaneous chant of “Garry, Garry” as his name is pronounced in Ukrainian.After watching pickleball players, some playing in wheelchairs and others with amputated arms and prosthetic legs, Harry told reporters: “That room is full of role models for society.”Calling for support for Ukraine’s military to extend to veterans, he continued: “So I think that the more we can do to celebrate them as individuals and also as a community… You know we’ve invested in them before they put the uniform on and we must invest with them once the uniform comes off.”The 42-year-old duke said the veterans had “so much to give to society”, adding: “Through Invictus we’re going to play the best role we can in that process.”Ukraine is planning to send 60 competitors – its largest ever team – to the 2027 edition of the Games.The Duke of Sussex plays pickleball with Ukrainian war veteransPAThe country had more than 1.4 million registered combat veterans at the start of the year, including more than 10% with disabilities.Harry said Ukrainians had “learned to live with war” and that their resilience was “incredible”.He continued: “The rest of the world will continue to support you.“In my mind you’ve already won, I hope the war is going to come to an end.”The Duke of Sussex meets Ukrainian war veteran Artem at the Superhumans Center, a specialized medical, prosthetics, and rehabilitation facility in LvivPAWearing black jeans, brown boots and a black padded hooded jacket with the Invictus Games logo, the duke spent time talking to one pickleball player with both legs amputated below the knee who recently had two prosthetics fitted.Kneeling to be at the same level, Harry asked him if he had done sport before his injury and said “sport is good for muscles,” knocking him lightly on the chest.Read MoreThe 36-year-old veteran, Radik Fateyev, said of the meeting with Harry: “It was cool, we chatted, he asked me how I was playing. I said I had already won twice.“He asked me to come to England for the pickleball tournament.”The player, from Zaporizzhia in southern Ukraine, added: “I think I will go, it’s very interesting.”The Duke of Sussex hands out medals to a Ukrainian war veteran during the 6th national Invictus Games of Ukraine in LvivPAHarry, who also posed for selfies with players, said: “You can see by the reaction how much sport and how much this community means to them so I’m just really proud.“You can see it on their faces, you can see it in their confidence, you can see it in their joy.“The key thing is to keep that going, not only for Invictus trials but all the way to the games and then beyond as well.”The duke then joined in a game himself, taking off his jacket to show a grey flannel shirt.He played against two men who each had an amputated leg, teaming up with a man with one arm amputated.He smashed in some shots to applause.he Duke of Sussex speaks at the closing ceremony of the 6th national Invictus Games of Ukraine in LvivPAOleksandr, a 49-year-old veteran from Odesa, south-western Ukraine, with an amputated leg, said: “I asked him to play and he didn’t refuse.“It’s good, he is an open person, he talks to people, he isn’t like a royal personage. He loves ordinary people. He is completely different.”The duke said organisers of the heats “haven’t been able to do it all around the country because of security concerns.”But he said to “bring so many veterans and service personnel together is absolutely amazing”.Volodymyr Fatkiv, 31, who has a paralysed arm said: “It’s the first time that I play pickleball, but I like it.”The veteran, who came under fire from Russians in Ukraine’s south-eastern and eastern Donetsk region in 2024, said: “A bullet hit me near my heart and then came out in my back, and I don’t know how I stayed alive.”He called sport “very important for veterans”, adding he plays badminton and does “archery with my teeth because my left arm is not working”.“Sport is very helpful for rehabilitation and now I help other veterans,” he said, adding he dreams of going to the Games in Birmingham.The Duke of Sussex meets Ukrainian war veteran Kostiantyn Vlasenko at the Superhumans CenterPAVisiting Lviv’s Superhumans clinic, which specialises in war injuries, for the second time, Harry met veterans and serving soldiers in the process of getting prosthetic limbs.He spoke to Kostiantyn Vlasenko, 49, who had to cut off his own feet after being injured and unable to reach help.Mr Vlasenko became the first Ukrainian be medically evacuated from the front line remotely this year, using a special drone.The duke told him: “You are a very, very impressive individual.”The soldier corrected him saying “stubborn”, to which Harry replied “stubbornness helps”, adding: “I have a huge amount of admiration and respect for you.”The duke also sat on a bed with Artem, a drone pilot who lost both arms in an artillery attack and has learnt to use his feet for everyday tasks but is now getting fitted with hi-tech prosthetic arms.“It takes getting used to,” Harry told him.“It’s very hard,” the 31-year-old admitted, saying he was struggling to bear the weight and calibrate them.