Prince Harry hails Ukraine’s wounded veterans as ‘role models’ during surprise visit

详细摘要

The Duke of Sussex, Prince Harry, watched players in the western city of Lviv compete in the black and yellow colours of the Invictus Games, which he founded to help wounded military and veterans

Prince Harry on Sunday on the second day of a surprise visit to Ukraine hailed the country's wounded veterans as "role models" with "so much to give to society".

The Duke of Sussex watched players in the western city of Lviv compete in the black and yellow colours of the Invictus Games, which he founded to help wounded military and veterans.

Ukraine was holding heats to select players in disciplines including the new sport of pickleball to compete at next year's international Invictus Games in Birmingham in England. Harry has been to Ukraine three times before, more any other British royal.

As the final winners were named at a closing ceremony, the audience broke out into a spontaneous chant of "Garry, Garry" as his name is pronounced in Ukrainian. Ukraine will field a record team of 60 players in Birmingham as the war leads to ever-increasing numbers of ex-soldiers with amputated limbs and other disabilities.

"That room is full of role models for society," Harry told journalists after watching pickleball players, some playing in wheelchairs, others with amputated arms and prosthetic legs.

The prince founded the Invictus Games in 2014 inspired by his experience serving in the military. Referring to the some three million veterans in Ukraine, Harry said: "There's a huge amount of work to do... Those three million individuals have so much to give to society. Through Invictus we're going to play the best role we can in that process."

Calling for support for Ukraine's military to extend to veterans, he said: "We've invested in them before they put the uniform on, we must invest with them once the uniform comes off."

Ukrainians have "learned to live with war", said the prince, on his fourth visit since Russia's invasion. He continued: "Every single person in Ukraine is playing their part in this war. The rest of the world will continue to support you. In my mind you've already won, I hope the war is going to come to an end."

Wearing black jeans and a black padded hooded jacket…

文章开头，摘自Daily Mirror。如需阅读全文，请前往媒体网站。