Kyiv — Prince Harry made an unannounced visit to Ukraine Thursday, speaking at the Kyiv Security Forum to signal support for a country he said is “bravely and successfully defending Europe’s eastern flank.” He pressed the United States to take a clearer leadership role in backing Kyiv.
Harry reminded the audience that when Ukraine relinquished its nuclear arsenal, Western guarantees—including from the United States—were part of the bargain to respect Ukraine’s sovereignty and borders. “This is a moment for American leadership,” he said, urging Washington to honor its international treaty obligations as part of global security and strategic stability.
At the White House, President Trump responded with a personal greeting and a dig, asking after Harry and his wife and saying, in effect, that Harry did not speak for the U.K.: “I think I am speaking for the U.K. more than Prince Harry.”
While praising Europe for the substantial support it has provided, Harry warned that more aid is needed faster. “The task now is to match endurance with speed,” he said, calling for accelerated assistance to sustain Ukraine’s defense.
He framed the conflict as a wider contest between liberal democracies and authoritarian forces, and highlighted Russia’s forcible transfers of tens of thousands of Ukrainian children. Under international law, he noted, such transfers can amount not only to a war crime but potentially to an act of genocide if carried out with intent to erase a people’s identity.
This was Harry’s third trip to Ukraine since Russia’s 2022 full-scale invasion. After his speech he planned meetings with Ukrainian participants in his Invictus Games Foundation and with the Halo Trust charity, an organization supported in the past by his late mother, Princess Diana. His visit comes as President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has warned that shifting global attention to the Middle East could slow efforts to end the war in Ukraine.