Prince Harry has extended his visit to Ukraine, leaving him and Meghan Markle spending a fifth day apart as his humanitarian work continues.
The Duke of Sussex flew into the UK on Monday before travelling on to Kyiv after an invitation from the Ukrainian Government.
Harry, 40, has not confirmed when he will return to California, where Meghan remains with their children, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet, meaning the couple are now apart for a fifth consecutive day.
The father-of-two said he wants to do "everything possible" to help thousands of military personnel seriously injured in the three-year war with Russia.
Meghan Markle and Prince Harry begin fifth day apart as Duke delays trip home to US
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Accompanied by a team from his Invictus Games Foundation, Harry is announcing new projects to support the rehabilitation of wounded veterans and to expand sport-based recovery programmes across the country.
Ukraine’s Government estimates that about 130,000 people have been left with permanent disabilities since the conflict began, making rehabilitation a key national priority.
Speaking to the Guardian on an overnight train to the capital, Harry said: "We cannot stop the war but what we can do is do everything we can to help the recovery process. We can continue to humanise the people involved in this war and what they are going through.
"We have to keep it in the forefront of people’s minds. I hope this trip will help to bring it home to people because it’s easy to become desensitised to what has been going on."
Prince Harry made a surprise visit to Ukraine just one day after leaving the UK, as the Duke accepted a Government invite
| REUTERSThe Duke explained that the visit was sparked by a chance meeting in New York with Olga Rudnieva, founder of the Superhumans Trauma Centre in Lviv, which treats wounded amputees.
He recalled: "I bumped into Olga in New York. It was a chance meeting, and I asked her what I could do to help. She said, 'The biggest impact you have is coming to Kyiv.'
"I had to check with my wife and the British Government to make sure it was OK. Then the official invitation came.
"In Lviv, you don’t see much of the war. It is so far west. This is the first time we will see the real destruction of the war."
Meghan Markle lives in Montecito with Harry and their two children
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Prince Harry made a surprise visit to Ukraine earlier this year, meeting with war victims at the Superhumans Center in Lviv
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Ukraine first entered the Invictus Games in 2017, but its involvement has taken on a new urgency since Russia’s invasion.
The competition, which Harry founded in 2014, provides an international sporting arena for wounded veterans. Reflecting on the Ukrainian team’s appearance at the 2022 games in The Hague, Harry said: "It was remarkable. Every one of the participants had a journey to get to those games, but nobody from any of the other competing nations was going back to war.
"That is why the Ukrainians stood out. Everyone felt an immense connection to them. Some of the competitors were being pulled off the battlefield and were going back to the battlefield. It means so much to us, because it means so much to them."
While in Kyiv, Harry is scheduled to meet Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko and spend time with 200 veterans at the National Museum of the History of Ukraine in the Second World War. The Invictus Games Foundation has also been supplying sports equipment and expanding local recovery programmes.