LONDON (AP) — Prince Harry met with war victims on Thursday in an unannounced visit to Ukraine as part of his ongoing work with wounded veterans, a spokesperson said.
Harry visited the Superhumans Center, an orthopedic clinic in Lviv that treats and rehabilitates wounded military personnel and civilians, to see top-notch services provided in a country in the midst of war. The center provides prosthetics, reconstructive surgery and psychological help free of charge.
The Duke of Sussex, who served 10 years in the British Army, has made helping injured soldiers one of his most prominent causes. He founded the Invictus Games in 2014 to offer wounded veterans the challenge of competing in sports events similar to the Paralympics.
Harry was accompanied by a contingent from the Invictus Games Foundation, including four veterans who have been through similar rehabilitation experiences.
The visit to the area in western Ukraine that has frequently been targeted with Russian missiles was not announced until after he was out of the country.
He traveled to Ukraine after spending two days in a London court where he is appealing the British government’s decision to strip him of his government-funded protection after he quit working as a member of the royal family in 2020 and moved his family to California.
The prince is no stranger to war, having served two tours in Afghanistan, where he flew missions as an Apache helicopter copilot gunner.
Harry, 40, the younger son of King Charles III, is the second member of the royal family to visit Ukraine. His aunt, Sophie, the Duchess of Edinburgh, became the first British royal to travel to the country since Russia’s 2022 invasion when she made an unannounced visit to Kyiv last year.
The royal family has been outspoken in their support for Ukraine. King Charles warmly greeted President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in a show of support at his estate on the North Sea coast just two days after his extraordinary dressing down by U.S. President Donald Trump at the White House.
Harry’s older brother, Prince William, met with Ukrainian refugees during a two day visit to Estonia last month.
Find more of AP’s coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/royalty
FILE - Prince Harry waves as he leaves the Royal Courts of Justice in London, Wednesday, April 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Alberto Pezzali, File)
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump said Thursday he's nominating his national security adviser Mike Waltz to serve as United Nations ambassador in a major shake-up of his national security team.
The president said Secretary of State Marco Rubio will serve simultaneously as acting national security adviser while maintaining his position at the State Department.
Trump announced the moves shortly after news broke that Waltz was leaving the administration, just weeks after it was revealed that he had added a journalist to a Signal chat being used to discuss military plans.
“I am pleased to announce that I will be nominating Mike Waltz to be the next United States Ambassador to the United Nations. From his time in uniform on the battlefield, in Congress and, as my National Security Advisor, Mike Waltz has worked hard to put our Nation’s Interests first,” Trump wrote on social media.
“In the interim, Secretary of State Marco Rubio will serve as National Security Advisor, while continuing his strong leadership at the State Department. Together, we will continue to fight tirelessly to Make America, and the World, SAFE AGAIN.”
There is precedent for the secretary of state to serve simultaneously as national security adviser. Henry Kissinger held both positions from 1973 to 1975.
Waltz came under searing scrutiny in March after revelations that he added journalist Jeffrey Goldberg to a private text chain on the encrypted messaging app Signal, which was used to discuss planning for a sensitive March 15 military operation against Houthi militants in Yemen.
Trump’s decision to move Waltz to the U.N. comes weeks after he pulled his pick for the job, Rep. Elise Stefanik of New York, from consideration.
Stefanik went through a confirmation hearing, but her nomination was pulled in March because her vote to advance Trump’s agenda remains crucial to Republicans in the House.
“I’m deeply honored to continue my service to President Trump and our great nation,” Waltz said of the nomination.
A far-right ally of the president, Laura Loomer, had been targeting Waltz, telling Trump in a recent Oval Office conversation that he needs to purge aides who she believes are insufficiently loyal to the “Make America Great Again” agenda.
Waltz served in the House representing Florida for three terms before being tapped for national security adviser.
In his second term, the Republican president had been looking to avoid the tumult of his first four years in office, during which he cycled through four national security advisers, four White House chiefs of staff and two secretaries of state.
The Signal chain episode also showed that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth provided the exact timings of warplane launches and when bombs would drop. Waltz had previously taken “full responsibility” for building the message chain and administration officials described the episode as a “mistake” but one that caused Americans no harm. Waltz maintained that he was not sure how Goldberg ended up in the messaging chain, and insisted he did not know the journalist.
Trump and the White House — which insisted that no classified information was shared on the text chain — have stood by Waltz publicly throughout the episode. But the embattled national security adviser was also under siege from personalities such as Loomer, who had been complaining to administration officials that she had been excluded from the vetting process for National Security Council aides.
In her view, Waltz relied too much on “neocons” — referring to hawkish neoconservatives within the Republican Party — as well as others who Loomer argued were “not-MAGA-enough” types.
As reports began to circulate that Waltz could be leaving the administration, Loomer appeared to take credit in a post on the social media site X, writing: “SCALP.”
“Hopefully, the rest of the people who were set to be fired but were given promotions at the NSC under Waltz also depart,” Loomer wrote in another post.
Loomer had taken a similar victory lap when several other NSC officials were dismissed last month one day after she met with Trump.
Questions are also swirling around Hegseth and his role in the Signal chat.
While Waltz set it up, Hegseth posted times for aircraft launches and bomb drops into the unsecured app and shared the same information with dozens of people in a second chat, including his wife and brother.
The Associated Press reported that Hegseth also bypassed Pentagon security protocols to set up an unsecured line for a personal computer in his office –- beside terminals where he was receiving classified information. That raises the possibility that sensitive information could have been put at risk of potential hacking or surveillance.
The Pentagon inspector general is investigating Hegseth’s use of Signal, and he has faced criticism from Democrats and even some Republicans. It has added to the turmoil at the Pentagon at a time when Hegseth has dismissed or transferred multiple close advisers. Nonetheless, Trump has maintained public confidence in Hegseth.
Waltz shift from national security adviser to U.N. ambassador nominee means he will now have to face the Senate confirmation process he was able to avoid January.
The process, which proved to be difficult for a number of Trump’s Cabinet picks, will give lawmakers, especially Democrats, the first chance to grill Waltz on his decision to share information about an imminent U.S. airstrike on Signal. The group chat, which Waltz created, included several high-level Trump administration officials and the editor-in-chief of The Atlantic magazine.
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Associated Press writer Tara Copp and Matthew Lee contributed to this report.
President Donald Trump speaks during a cabinet meeting at the White House, Wednesday, April 30, 2025, in Washington, as Secretary of State Marco Rubio, left, and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, look on. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
Secretary of State Marco Rubio attends a National Day of Prayer event in the Rose Garden of the White House, Thursday, May 1, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
White House national security adviser Mike Waltz listens as President Donald Trump meets with Italy's Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni in the Oval Office of the White House, Thursday, April 17, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
National Security Advisor Mike Waltz speaks during a television interview at the White House, Thursday, May 1, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
National Security Advisor Mike Waltz speaks during a television interview at the White House, Thursday, May 1, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
