Prince William and Kate were thanked this morning by Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky and his wife after the royals said they stood with them in their fight.
The supportive message from the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge was sent on Saturday as Putin’s forces bombarded the country.
And this morning Mr Zelensky and his wife Olena said they were ‘grateful’ for the rare political comment from the Royals.
They added the support was boost as Ukraine continued to fight off Russia’s invasion.
President Zelensky said: ‘Olena and I are grateful to the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge that at this crucial time, when Ukraine is courageously opposing Russia’s invasion, they stand by our country and support our brave citizens.
‘Good will triumph.’
Harry and Meghan had also sent their own words of support to Ukraine, but was not mentioned by Mr Zelensky. It is not known whether he has privately thanked them.
The Sussexes had posted on their website on February 24 ‘Prince Harry and Meghan, The Duke and Duchess of Sussex and all of us at Archewell stand with the people of Ukraine’.
They restated that support on television as they accepted the President’s Award at the NAACP Image Awards.
William and Kate’s remarks were posted on Saturday and were a rare foray into politics.
The Duke and Duchess entertained President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and his wife Olena in the opulent Throne Room
The area today near the regional administration building, which city officials said was hit by a missile attack, in central Kharkiv, Ukraine
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, Duke and Duchess of Sussex, accept the President’s Award at the 53rd NAACP Image Awards Show, where they restated their support for Ukraine
The message of gratitude to William and Kate was posted just after 8am this morning
Their February 26 post on Twitter insisted they ‘stand’ with the people of the war-torn nation, as they ‘bravely fight’ for their future.
The royal couple also recalled the ‘privilege’ of meeting President Zelensky and his wife, when they jetted into London in 2020.
In a personal tweet signed by the couple, they wrote: ‘In October 2020 we had the privilege to meet President Zelenskyy and the First Lady to learn of their hope and optimism for Ukraine’s future.
‘Today we stand with the President and all of Ukraine’s people as they bravely fight for that future.’
William and Kate welcomed the Ukrainians to Buckingham Palace in October 2020 – their first audience since the start of the first Covid lockdown.
The Duke and Duchess entertained President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and his wife Olena in the opulent Throne Room.
The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge have said they ‘stand’ with the people of Ukraine as they ‘bravely fight’ for their future
William and Kate welcomed the Ukrainians to Buckingham Palace in October 2020 – their first audience since the start of the first Covid lockdown
The Tweet from William and Kate was sent on Saturday and was a rare political message
The couples did not wear masks but observed social distancing and appeared in good spirits during the meeting, the first royal event to take place at Buckingham Palace in nearly six months.
William and Kate held the audience on behalf of the Queen, who stayed at Windsor Castle to carry out a limited number of engagements.
Ukraine’s president has accused Russia of war crimes after Vladimir Putin’s forces launched what were believed to be cluster and vacuum bomb attacks in an attempt to turn the tide of a conflict that they have so-far been losing.
In a late night address directed at Russia, Volodymyr Zelensky said there would ‘definitely be an international tribunal’ for what he said was a ‘violation of all conventions’ and added that ‘no one in the world will forgive you for killing peaceful Ukrainian people.’ Prosecutors at The Hague say they intend to open a probe ‘as soon as possible.’
Zelensky spoke after what appeared to be a cluster bomb attack on the city of Kharkiv on Monday which killed at least 11 people and wounded scores more, and after Ukraine’s ambassador to the US accused Putin’s forces of using a banned thermobaric bomb on the capital of Kyiv overnight.
The bombardment of Kharkiv continued Tuesday morning with a rocket landing just in front of the civilian public administration building, destroying the road outside and blowing the windows out of the building itself.
Footage from inside shows the building was heavily damaged, with ceilings collapsing and rubble strewn around.
It came as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine – which met with heavy defeat in its initial plan to seize key targets and infrastructure in precision strikes – entered a new phase, with the aim seemingly to surround and besiege cities such as Kharkiv, Kyiv, Mariupol, Sumy and Kherson which have so-far put up fierce resistance – and bomb them into submission using indiscriminate weapons in echoes of tactics Russia used against rebel forces in Syria while fighting alongside dictator Basahar al-Assad.
Fears that Kyiv will be hard-hit have been growing and reached new heights on Tuesday as satellite images revealed a column of Russian vehicles heading towards the capital is actually 40 miles long, as opposed to the 4 miles that were reported on Monday.
The most-advanced units in the column are now just 15 miles from the city, having been significantly slowed by Ukrainian resistance but never-the-less inching closer day by day.
The regional administration building, which city officials said was hit by a missile attack, in central Kharkiv, Ukraine
Ukrainian police officer escorts refugees, at the Medyka border crossing in Poland today
Russia’s plan appears to be using the heavy armour to encircle and shell the city, before troops move in for street-to-street fighting.
A taste of what was to come struck Kharkiv on Monday when bombs rained down on the most Russia-friendly city in Ukraine – which sits 25 miles from the border and is home to 1.5million people – in a bid to break its will to resist.
The hail of bombs, shells and rockets which began falling at lunchtime left at least 11 dead, including three children, with homes and even a school reduced to rubble.
