Prince Harry, a visit to Kiev to support war veterans: “In Ukraine, in the coming decades, it will be normal to see people with prostheses.”
Prince Harry made a discreet visit to Kiev to promote the programs of the Invictus Games (IGF) Foundation dedicated to the recovery and reintegration of the wounded veterans in the Ukraine. According to the international press, the Duke of Sussex spent almost two days in Ukraine, where he participated in meetings with officials, veterans and their families, being greeted with applause.
Prince Harry laid a wreath at the memorial of the victims of the war. Photo: x/@warpolitics24
“Recovery through sport does not exist in Ukraine before invictus. Now we build a whole system with different types of training”, said Ruslan Prykhodko, deputy minister for business veterans, quoted by The Guardian.
“In Ukraine, in the coming decades, it will be normal to see people with prostheses and injuries that have changed their lives”, says Prince Harry.
Harry also visited the maidan, where he laid a wreath at the Victim Memorial of the War.
“I wanted to find a place to lay the crown of flowers quietly, away from everyone. God, as a maze there. I did not realize how much it stretches. Honestly, it is one of the saddest things I have ever seen. But one of the most beautiful,” said the Duke about the place visited and about the conflict in Ukraine.
“It is amazing. We have never expected such a level of recognition”, says Olga Rudnieva, the founder and general director of the Superhumans Traumatology Center in Lviv, who has collaborated closely with Invictus in Ukraine.
“I think the arrival of Prince Harry here is a symbol of victory and power. People look at him and his military experience and see that he is not afraid to come to Ukraine. It is very important that he has come.”she completed.
The prince spoke openly about his personal challenges, his image in the press and how the work at Invictus again offered a goal after the military career. “I was lucky. The thing that is missing the most veterans is the feeling of purpose. Invictus gave me this, saved me”, a he said.
In the interview with The Guardian, Harry rejected the idea that it would be “unhappy”stressed that he wants to spend more time in the UK and talked about the principles that guided him in the press disputes: “My consciousness is clean. It is not for revenge, but responsibility.”
The Invictus Games Foundation collaborates with the Ukrainian authorities to expand sports programs at national level, in the context in which, according to estimates, over 130,000 people have suffered injuries that changed their lives after the war.
At the end of the visit, the prince received numerous gifts from the Ukrainians, a sign of the unexpected popularity he enjoys in the country.
