Prince Harry hails ‘extraordinary’ Ukraine team at Invictus Games

The Duke of Sussex has described the presence of a Ukrainian squad at The Invictus Games as "amazing." After his country was invaded by Russia, Harry said it's "emotional" to contemplate about their trip to The Hague, Netherlands, for the event this week.

During an interview that will be shown on the BBC on Monday evening, the duke, who started the games to aid the rehabilitation of injured or sick military people and veterans, said.

The games will be Harry and Meghan's first public appearance together in Europe since they left the Royal Family more than two years ago.

The couple arrived at the Olympics on Friday after secretly flying to the United Kingdom to see the Queen.

"The whole world is clearly behind them," Harry told presenter Alex Jones in a clip uploaded online by the channel. But, again, is that sufficient?

"Because it's incredibly hard when you get to see them and talk to them and see the experiences and things that they've seen only in the last few weeks in their eyes."

Since spectators began arriving at the Zuiderpark last Friday, other nations have shouted and praised Team Ukraine, which consists of 19 competitors.

Speaking about their journey to the games, Harry said: “It’s emotional to think that they all jumped in the bus, firstly they have to make the decision to come, which was hard enough anyway, then they jumped on the coach, probably slept all the way.

“And I think what people need to remember, or perhaps don’t even know yet, is a vast majority of the Ukraine team were serving in some shape or form."

“So they removed their uniforms, put their team strips on, jumped on the coach, came over here, slept for a couple of days, tried to decompress and then were straight into it, and then they’ve got to go back, so I think to have them here is extraordinary. And that commitment that they’ve made to leaving their country, which is a real hard thing for them to decide to do, but they came with their president’s blessing," Harry noted.

“And I don’t think this games could have been the games that it is without Team Ukraine."

“And of course, they’ve lost now four members of their community, and one being their archery instructor who isn’t here. He didn’t make it, killed in action. So I think it really just brings it home to what is going on across Europe right now.

“And we’ve got over 500 competitors here with varying different stories and backgrounds, but ultimately we are all together in this.”