The Princess Royal made a surprise visit to Ukraine on Tuesday to highlight the "traumatic experiences of children living on the frontline of the conflict", Buckingham Palace has said.

Axar.az reports, citing BBC, Princess Anne left a toy bear at a memorial for children killed since Russia's full-scale invasion, and spoke to young people alleged to have been taken from their homes by Russian forces.

She also discussed the UK's support for Ukraine and its ongoing resistance with President Volodomyr Zelensky.

The official visit, taken at the request of the Foreign Office, comes just weeks after her nephew Prince Harry visited war-wounded veterans during a surprise visit to Kyiv.

Anne, who is the King's sister, paid her respects at the Children's Memorial alongside First Lady Olena Zelenska, who opened the site in the northeastern city of Kharkiv.

The princess also visited the Child Rights Protection Centre, set up during the conflict to support young people affected by the war, where she spoke to children who had been reunited with their families and staff "working tirelessly" to bring more young people back.

Kyiv estimates that at least 19,500 Ukrainian children have been deported and forcibly displaced from their homes to Russia and Russian-occupied territories since February 2022.

Just 1,605 have come home so far, according to the government's Children of War database.