The Duke of Sussex has travelled to the city of Bucha in Ukraine, where thousands of landmines need to be cleared after a deadly massacre in 2022Prince Harry joins the HALO Trust and praises Ukrainian deminers
Prince Harry has travelled to the city of Bucha in Ukraine where thousands of landmines have been left behind by Russian forces after a deadly massacre. The Duke of Sussex has been travelling around Ukraine, meeting with those affected by the years long war and speaking with politicians at a conference in Kyiv.
On the second day of his trip, Harry travelled to the city of Bucha, where hundreds of Ukrainian civilians and prisoners of war were killed in a massacre in April 2022, when Russian forces withdrew from the city.
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Prince Harry was shown new technology at a landmine site in Ukraine(Image: Valentyn Kuzan for The HALO Trust 2026)
After the Russian soldiers left the region, hundreds of unexploded landmines were left, as the city was deemed unsafe for civilians as a huge clean up operation began, as Harry told ITV News: “The clean-up that is going to be needed here will go well into the next two, three, even four decades”.
In order to clear the landmines, the Ukraine forces had to rapidly design various new technologies to deal with advances in modern warfare. While in Bucha, Harry tried out some of the new tech used to clear sites such as a Robo dog named Spot, and new AI-powered drones operated with remote controls and VR goggles.
Speaking with ITV News, Harry praised the work of his charity Halo Trust and called out the parallels between his visit to Ukraine and the late Princess Diana’s landmine walk in Angola.
Harry spoke passionately about the Halo Trust’s clean up efforts in Ukraine(Image: ITV)
He said: “What Halo Trust is doing is absolutely incredible work. It’s sad, it’s very, very sad because nearly 30 years ago, my mother was in Angola, here we are again in a new conflict.”
Harry walked across an area filled with landmines, wearing just a protection vest featuring the Halo Trust’s logo. Ukraine is now The Halo Trust’s biggest operation anywhere in the world, as the charity work tirelessly to make the area safe.
Harry added of Halo’s clean up effort: “It’s amazing to see technology transform the work of the Halo Trust—making mine clearance smarter, faster and safer. When my mother visited Angola nearly thirty years ago, de-miners carried out their work on their hands and knees to uncover hidden explosives. Now they’re also using drones, AI and robots for greater precision and protection. This isn’t just progress — it’s lifesaving.”
The Duke of Sussex has walked across fields of landmines before, travelling to Angola last year to follow in the footsteps of his mother, the late Princess Diana.
Princess Diana walked through a minefield being cleared in Angola in 1997(Image: Tim Graham Photo Library via Getty Images)
Harry walked through a landmine corridor in July last year, just as his mother had done in the region 28 years prior during her 1997 trip to Angola just months before she died. Angola was ravaged by a brutal 27-year civil war that ended in 2002, but the country is still trying to uncover the millions of landmines buried across the countryside that still pose a threat to locals and wildlife.
During Harry’s first day in Ukraine, he directly called on Putin to ‘stop the war’, as he spoke at the Kyiv Security Forum. In his speech, he said: “President Putin, no nation benefits from the continued loss of life we are witnessing.
“There is still a moment – now – to stop this war, to prevent further suffering for Ukrainians and Russians alike, and to choose a different course.”
Harry directly addressed Russian President Vladimir Putin during his speech on Thursday (Image: AFP via Getty Images)
He then condemned the “systematic war crimes”, and the ‘chilling’ treatment of Ukraine’s children. He said: “Across occupied territories, there is mounting, documented evidence of systematic war crimes: deliberate attacks on civilians, mass killings, torture, sexual violence, and the forced deportation of entire populations.
“Under international law, the forcible transfer of children from one national group to another is not just a war crime – it can constitute an act of genocide when carried out with intent to destroy a people’s identity. This is not collateral damage. This is not the chaos of war spilling over. This is organised, systematic, intentional, and designed to endure long after the fighting stops.”
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