Prince Harry appeals directly to Putin to ‘stop this war’ with Ukraine and urges Trump to show ‘American leadership’ in the conflict as duke makes surprise visit to Kyiv

Prince Harry today called on Vladimir Putin to ‘stop this war’ with Ukraine and accused the Russians of ‘mass murders and torture’ during an unannounced visit to Kiev.

The Duke of Sussex, who describes himself as “a soldier who understands service”, called on President Trump for “American leadership” and asked him to take a step.

Harry claimed he was in Kiev to ‘remind the world’ of the conflict and remind ‘people at home’ in Britain.

After sneaking into the Ukrainian capital by train on Thursday morning, Harry 41, spoke at a security conference and made a direct plea for peace to Putin, telling him he could never win the war.

“There is still a moment to stop this war, prevent further suffering for both Ukrainians and Russians, and choose a different path,” Harry said.

He continued: ‘President Putin, no nation benefits from the continued loss of life we ​​are witnessing.’

Harry later accused the Russians of ‘brutal attacks on civilians, mass killings, torture, sexual violence and forcible deportation of entire populations, including tens of thousands of children’.

He said these young people. They have been brainwashed by a system ‘designed to erase who they are’.

Harry is aHe also assured Ukrainians that he had not forgotten their plight.

“The world sees you and respects you,” he told delegates.

He added: ‘I’m not here as a politician.

I stand here as a service-minded soldier, a humanitarian who has seen the human cost of conflict, and a friend of Ukraine who believes the world should not get used to this war or become numb to its consequences.

‘Because what’s going on here isn’t just a war over land. This is a war about values. It’s about sovereignty.

‘About whether the principles that underpin our common democracy still have meaning’.

unannounced visit Kyiv It comes just a week after Russia launched its deadliest airstrike on the capital this year. Moscow bombarded the country with a wave of drone and missile attacks, killing 17 people and More than 100 people were injured. Four people died in Kiev, including a 12-year-old boy.

“It’s good to be back in Ukraine,” Harry said, praising its people for “bravely and successfully defending Europe’s eastern flank.”

He arrived in Kiev by train this morning after spending last week in Australia on a controversial so-called royal tour with Meghan.

Harry was also married to his late grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II. He quietly placed a wreath at Elizabeth’s Windsor grave on Tuesday to mark her 100th birthday, but did not attend his family’s celebrations at Buckingham Palace in London.

He secretly arrived in Kiev by train early on Thursday morning. flew Poland and then traveled overnight by rail to the Ukrainian capital.

He told ITV News the aim of his visit was to ‘remind people at home and around the world what Ukraine is facing and to support people and partners who are doing extraordinary work every hour of every day in incredibly challenging circumstances’.

Prince Harry arrives in Ukraine for an unannounced visit to Kiev

Harry traveled by train through the night and was embraced on the platform

‘It’s nice to be back in Ukraine’ Harry said when he arrived this morning

This is Harry’s second visit to Kiev and third to Ukraine since the start of the war with Russia.

He described Ukraine as ‘a country that bravely and successfully defended the eastern flank of Europe’ and said ‘it is important that we do not lose sight of the importance of this’.

“This is not just a war about territory, it’s a war about values,” Harry said in his speech.

This is his second visit to the city, having spent time there last September as part of his ongoing training for the Invictus Games and in support of Ukraine’s tens of thousands of injured veterans.

Harry, who served in the British Army for 10 years, has long made helping injured soldiers one of his most important goals.

He will give a speech later today in which he will say that Ukraine’s war is more than a simple fight over territory.

In April last year, Harry met with war victims on his first trip to Ukraine, this time to Lviv.

Photos showed the royal family smiling from ear to ear and posing with dozens of wounded soldiers.

In one of the images, the Duke is seen chatting with a visibly injured young man with a serious expression.

The visit to the region in Western Ukraine, which is frequently targeted by Russian missiles, was announced after Harry went out of the country.

Harry has arrived in Europe but it is unclear whether he is in the UK.

But according to Sussex-approved People magazine, the Duke of Sussex organized the laying of flowers next to the Queen’s grave in St George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle on her 100th birthday.

Following her death in 2022, the Queen was buried next to her husband Prince Philip in the King George VI Memorial Chapel, which also houses the remains of the Queen’s father George VI, her mother the Queen Mother and her sister Princess Margaret.

While Harry remains in California this week, King Charles and Queen Camilla led senior Royal Family members at a Buckingham Palace reception to honor him yesterday.

This comes after the Duke paid tribute to Philip in a personal letter secretly left at the National Memorial Arboretum on the 80th anniversary of VJ Day last August.

Following national commemorations attended by the King and Queen earlier the same day, Harry discreetly asked a friend to leave a note and a wreath of red poppies for his late grandfather at the Burma Star Memorial in Staffordshire.

But a friend of the Royal Family told the Daily Mail’s Richard Eden at the time: ‘What hypocrisy. ‘Harry deeply hurt his grandfather in the last year of his life.’

The letter was said to have been placed after Charles and Camilla’s separation so as not to distract from the ceremony honoring the sacrifices of World War II heroes who fought and died in the Pacific and Far East.

Queen Elizabeth II Elizabeth with Harry after the wedding of Lady Gabriella Windsor at Windsor Castle in 2019

Last August, Harry asked a friend to place a letter and a wreath at the Burma Star Memorial

In 2020, the year of Megxit, former soldier Harry was upset when his request for a poppy wreath to be placed in his name at the Cenotaph, the focal point of Remembrance Sunday in the UK, was rejected.

Just months later, the Duke, who undertook two tours of Afghanistan, was appointed to World War II after his decision to step down as a senior royal staffer was made permanent. He was stripped of his military patronage by Elizabeth.

Since Elizabeth II’s death on September 8, 2022, Harry has returned to her burial site in Windsor twice, including for the first anniversary in 2023.

The duke also paid his respects last year when he was in the UK for the WellChild awards, meeting his father Charles for the first time in more than a year.

At Tuesday’s Palace reception, the King was accompanied by all working royals to mark his late mother’s 100th birthday.

The King and Queen were joined by the Prince and Princess of Wales, the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh, the Princess Crown, the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester and even the Duke and Princess Alexandra of Kent, aged 90 and 89 respectively.

Reception, II. It was a celebration of Elizabeth’s life and legacy; Guests from 45 of the patronages it supports were also present at the event.

Meanwhile, Harry returned to Montecito last week after touring Australia with Meghan during a four-day visit that drew huge crowds of supporters and harsh criticism.

The Sussexes have been accused of using their royal connections to make money from Australia, as they carried out various charitable and business activities while living Down Under.