Sophie becomes first royal to visit Ukraine since war started as she meets Zelenskyy and remembers massacre victims

29 April 2024, 20:31 | Updated: 29 April 2024, 22:22

Sophie, the Duchess of Edinburgh, delivered a message to the Ukrainian President and his wife on behalf of King Charles III on Monday morning during an unannounced visit to the country.

The Duchess visited Ukraine in a show of solidarity with the women, men and children impacted by the war and to champion survivors of conflict-related sexual violence.

During the trip, the senior royal spoke with survivors of sexual violence and torture and heard from children who were returned to Ukraine after being forcibly separated from their families.

The Duchess also visited the site of a mass grave in Bucha where victims of the Russian occupation were buried.

She also laid flowers at a memorial that contains the names of the victims.

There was also a trip to see a bridge which was blown up to stop Russian soldiers advancing on the capital, Kyiv.

The trip involved a visit to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) office to meet with war victims, as well as seeing the historic Saint Sophia Cathedral in Kyiv alongside first lady Olena Zelenska.

This unexpected visit is a symbolic message of royal support for Ukraine.

The trip was at the request of the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office.

Shortly after the beginning on the invasion, King Charles, then Prince of Wales, visited Ukrainian refugees who had come across the border into Romania.

Prince William also visited British troops in Poland near to the Ukrainian border in March 2023.

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The Duchess has previously visited a number of countries - such as Kosovo, Sierra Leone, South Sudan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Colombia - to highlight the issue and hear first-hand testimonies from survivors.

She is the first member of the Royal Family to visit Ukraine since the conflict started in February 2022.

Last year she became the first royal to visit Baghdad in Iraq, again addressing the issue of violence against women and attending events supporting better access to education for girls.

She announced her commitment to champion the UK’s Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict Initiative and the UN’s Women, Peace and Security Agenda on International Women’s Day in 2019.

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On Friday, Buckingham Palace announced King Charles’s doctors are “pleased” with the progress he is making in his fight with cancer and he will resume “a number” of public duties.

The Palace said his “treatment programme will continue" as he has not yet been given the all-clear but that his medical team are "very encouraged" by the progress he has made.

They added future engagements will remain “subject to doctors’ advice,”.

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