Maia Davies
The Princess Royal made a surprise visit to Ukraine on Tuesday to highlight the “traumatic experiences of children living on the frontline of the conflict”, Buckingham Palace has said.
She also discussed the UK’s support for Ukraine and its ongoing resistance with President Volodomyr Zelensky.
Princess Anne left a toy bear at a memorial for children killed since Russia’s full-scale invasion, and spoke to young people alleged to have been taken from their homes by Russian forces.
Anne, who is the King’s sister, paid her respects at the Children’s Memorial alongside First Lady Olena Zelenska, who opened the site in the northeastern city of Kharkiv.
The official visit, taken at the request of the Foreign Office, comes just weeks after her nephew Prince Harry visited war-wounded veterans during a surprise visit to Kyiv.
Kyiv estimates that at least 19,500 Ukrainian children have been deported and forcibly displaced from their homes to Russia and Russian-occupied territories since February 2022.
The princess also visited the Child Rights Protection Centre, set up during the conflict to support young people affected by the war, where she spoke to children who had been reunited with their families and staff “working tirelessly” to bring more young people back.
The International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Rusian President Vladimir Putin and his Children’s Rights Commissioner, Maria Lvova-Belova, in 2023 for the alleged unlawful deportation of children.
Just 1,605 have come home so far, according to the government’s Children of War database.
Anne’s visit comes weeks after the UK announced new sanctions targeting those supporting the alleged attempts “to forcibly deport and indoctrinate” Ukrainian children.
Russia denies the accusation and says it has protected children by moving them from a war zone for their safety.
She also visited the Kherson Cultural Exhibition, which tells the story of the southern city recaptured by Ukrainian forces in November 2022 and described by the Palace as “a symbol of Ukraine’s strength, resistance and struggle”.
The princess also met female police and armed forces officers working to protect women and children, spoke to injured veterans and those with “conflict-related trauma” at a rehabilitation centre, and toured St Sophia’s Cathedral in Kyiv.
Other Royals have likewise shown support for Ukraine since the war began more than three years ago – including the King, who welcomed Zelensky to his Sandringham estate in Norfolk in March.
It is the second visit by a Royal to the country in less than a month, after the Duke of Sussex visited Kyiv in mid-September.
The Prince of Wales met Ukrainian refugees during a two-day visit to Estonia in March – where he said their resilience was “amazing”.
He also raised the conflict during US President Donald Trump’s recent state visit to the UK, saying: “Today, as tyranny once again threatens Europe, we and our allies stand together in support of Ukraine, to deter aggression and secure peace.”
