Solidarity visit

Sophie is the first royal to visit Kiev since the start of the war

For the first time since the start of the war, a member of the British royal family has visited Ukraine. Duchess Sophie - the sister-in-law of King Charles III - traveled to Ukraine at the request of the British Foreign Office, Buckingham Palace announced on Monday evening. The visit was intended to express solidarity with the women, men and children affected by the war.

Sophie (59) is married to Charles' younger brother Prince Edward (60). She has long campaigned against sexualized violence.

Meeting with Selenskyj
In Ukraine, she met President Volodymyr Selensky and his wife Olena Selenska and delivered a message from King Charles, the palace announced. According to the British news agency PA, Sophie also remembered the victims of the Butsha massacre.

Olena Selenska and Duchess Sophie(Bild: APA/AFP/POOL/Anatolii STEPANOV)

Selenska at the coronation
Ukraine has been defending itself against a war of aggression by Russia for more than two years. The Ukrainian First Lady Selenska attended Charles' coronation in the UK last year.

In February, she was received by his wife, Queen Camilla, in London. Charles himself has not made any public appearances for some time due to his cancer.

Duchess Sophie at a meeting with children in Irpin(Bild: AP/Anatolii Stepanov/Pool via AP)

A few weeks ago, Sophie called for sexualized violence to be punished as a means of war. Survivors in Ukraine and all over the world had courageously spoken about their experiences, she said at the time in a video address for a conference in Ukraine, according to the palace.

We must not turn away from the horrors of this crime. It must not become an accepted part of a conflict, she warned.