KYIV A HAND
Kate Middleton beams as she helps kids make art and fills packs with food in aid of Ukraine
THE Princess of Wales sends a colourful message to war-torn Ukraine — writing on aid boxes, “we are all thinking of you”.
Kate, 41, filled packages with food and toiletries, as well as helping women and children make patriotic blue and yellow ribbons to be sold for the war effort.
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The future queen even added her royal handprint to a tree of peace, first created to mark the anniversary of Russia’s invasion — admitting that her gloved print will be a “lot cleaner” than her own children’s painting attempts.
Making the unannounced visit to a centre for Ukrainian refugees, in Bracknell, Berks, she chatted to eight-year-old Liza about the power of music to raise spirits.
And she told volunteers: “Thank you. Please keep up the amazing work you are doing.”
Natalia Vil, 40, who co-founded the hub with pal Ashleigh Toomey, said: “I thought it was someone joking, especially as the person was called Marina, which sounds like an east European name.”
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They have sent six lorries and countless cars and vans stuffed with aid to Ukraine since Putin’s invasion.
Refugee Tetinia Sverdlova, who provides weekly sessions for displaced Ukrainians to discuss the challenges of adjusting to life in the UK after she was taken in by a local family, said: “It’s been wonderful. Bracknell is a very nice city. People are very welcoming. We feel a lot of support.”
Kate spoke to her eight-year-old daughter Liza about music and Charlotte singing a hymn that morning which had brightened up her day.
She said: “I heard my daughter singing this morning and it’s a song called Shine Jesus Shine and it made me very happy this morning.”
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“I’ll have to try making one of these with my kiddies at home,” she said.
Kate and Wills have been vocal supporters of Ukraine’s resistance to Russian aggression and of the international relief effort to help victims of the war.
Last November their Royal Foundation convened a virtual roundtable meeting to to help and advise Ukraine First Lady Olena Zelenska on her efforts to help her compatriots deal with the mental health effects of the war.
The King spoke out against the “aggression” on European soil and urged unity during two speeches in France during the State Visit last month.
Cyber-criminals linked to the Kremlin claimed responsibility for an attack that brought down the Royal Family’s website for 90 minutes on Sunday
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