Prince Harry visits a Halo Trust landmine clearance team near Bucha, Ukraine, as part of a surprise visit this week. Photo / The Halo Trust
Prince Harry visits a Halo Trust landmine clearance team near Bucha, Ukraine, as part of a surprise visit this week. Photo / The Halo Trust
Prince Harry has pushed back at suggestions he is no longer a working royal.
It’s been six years since Harry stepped back from royal duties, but that hasn’t stopped him from visiting conflict zones and advocating for charities.
Harry was on a surprise visit to Ukraine when an ITVinterviewer asked whether he agreed with being described as “not a working royal”.
“No,” replied Harry. “I will always be part of the royal family, and I’m here working and doing the very thing that I was born to do.”
On the trip, Harry spent time in Bucha with the Halo Trust, an international landmine clearing organisation that his mother, Princess Diana, famously championed during her 1997 visit to Angola.
Bucha made international headlines when Ukrainian civilians and prisoners were massacred by Russian soldiers in 2022.
“I enjoy being able to do these trips and come and support the people that I’ve met before, the friends that I’ve made,” he told ITV, adding he hoped to bring attention to issues that had dropped out of the news cycle.
Prince Harry (right) is shown the latest in mine clearance tech. Photo / The Halo Trust
The Halo Trust’s biggest operation is in Ukraine, where 1300 staff are clearing landmines and Russian ordnance that continue to kill and injure civilians.
The trip comes days after the Duke finished a tour of Australia with his wife Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex.
Prince Harry visiting a Halo Trust clearance team near Bucha in Ukraine. Photo / The Halo Trust
While in Ukraine, Harry spoke at the Kyiv Security Forum along with Western defence and government officials.
He told the audience he was not there as a politician, the Independent reported. “I am here as a soldier who understands service, as a humanitarian who has seen the human cost of conflict, and as a friend of Ukraine who believes the world must not grow used to this war or numb to its consequences,” he said.
Harry spent 10 years in the British army, including two tours of Afghanistan. After leaving the army, he founded the Invictus Games Foundation to help veterans deal with the effects of war.
He warned that the impact of the war would last “for years to come”.
Prince Harry speaks at the Kyiv Security Forum in Ukraine. Photo / Getty Images
Harry said the United States had a “singular role in this story”, the Independent reported.
“Not only because of its power, but because when Ukraine gave up nuclear weapons, America was part of the assurance that Ukraine’s sovereignty and borders would be respected.
“This is a moment for American leadership – a moment for America to show that it can honour its international treaty obligations – not out of charity, but out of its enduring role in global security and strategic stability.”
The trip is Harry’s third unannounced visit to Ukraine since the war began.
