Princess Anne visited Ukraine and met with representatives of the authorities and civil society

On 30 September, Her Royal Highness Princess Anne of the United Kingdom, the sister of King Charles III, arrived in Kyiv on an unannounced visit. During the trip, she visited Ukrainian veterans, the War Museum, St. Michael’s Golden-Domed Cathedral, a rehabilitation centre for military personnel, and the Child Rights Protection Centre.

According to Buckingham Palace, the main purpose of her trip to Ukraine was to draw attention to the “traumatic experiences of children living on the front lines of the conflict”.

During her visit, the Princess met with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and First Lady Olena Zelenska. According to the President, the main topic of conversation was the return of Ukrainian children abducted by Russia.

Princess Anne also visited the Child Rights Protection Centre, where she spoke with children who had survived occupation, deportation or had been returned from Russia. According to the Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights, Dmytro Lubinets, Her Highness “showed genuine interest” in the topic, asking questions about the statistics on the return of children and the possibility of international assistance. Princess Anne also paid tribute to the children who have died since the start of the Russian Federation’s full-scale invasion.

In addition, Princess Anne spoke with Ukrainian human rights defenders and representatives of the civil society sector. The Head of the Board of the Human Rights Centre ZMINA Tetiana Pechonchyk, who was invited to the British Embassy in Ukraine for a meeting with the Princess, stated: “We are grateful to the Embassy of the United Kingdom for the opportunity to speak with Her Royal Highness and to tell about the war crimes committed by Russia against Ukrainians, about abductions, torture, deportation, and at the same time — about the resistance to the aggressor in the occupied territories“.

This is already the second visit of a member of the Royal Family to Ukraine in less than a month: the Duke of Sussex, Prince Harry, visited Kyiv in mid-September.

According to data from the platform “Children of War“, since the start of the full-scale invasion, Russians have killed more than 650 children in Ukraine, more than 2,000 have been injured, and more than 19,500 Ukrainian children have been deported or forcibly displaced. Only 1,605 of them have been able to return home so far.

Photo credit: The British Embassy in Ukraine.