The Prince of Wales has paid tribute to the “resilience” of Ukrainians given refuge by Estonia after holding talks with the Baltic state’s president.
William described refugees who have fled Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as “very smiley and very strong and very spiritual people” after meeting students and their teachers at school founded to educate Ukrainians in Estonia.
Earlier, the future King sat down with Estonia’s President Alar Karis as his two-day visit to the country began and heard his plea for some UK troops to remain in the Baltic state after the statesman suggested they may be redeployed as peacekeepers in Ukraine.
William has flown to Estonia to meet those UK forces at Tapa Army Base providing a Nato deterrent against potential Russian aggression towards the neighbouring country.
At the school in the capital Tallinn, the future King was taught to say good afternoon in Estonian and Ukrainian then chatted to a group of 16 to 18-year-old students during in a Ukrainian language lesson.
He told them: “It’s been a very difficult few years for you guys. Everyone sees that.
“What I love is (that) the Ukrainian resilience is everywhere. You all are very smiley and very strong and very spiritual people. And honestly that comes across everywhere. Even the Ukrainians I’ve met in the UK are like that – very resilient and very strong about things.
“You have a very good spirit, very good souls, it’s very important.”
When he asked “do you hope there will be a deal soon and the fighting will stop?” one student replied: “We hope and believe the war will stop.”
In a lighter moment, student counsellor Yelyzaveta Lukiianchuk, 18, asked if she could give him a friendship bracelet made by the pupils in the Ukrainian colours of blue and yellow.
William replied: “That’s brilliant, my daughter will try and probably poach it off me later. She loves these friendship bracelets.”
During the visit the prince also tried his hand at playing basketball but failed to score a point.
The prince began his day by spending around 35 minutes with the president at his official office in Tallinn and at the start of the meeting the statesman thanked the prince for the presence of the UK troops at Tapa military base.
He said: “With British troops at Tapa we really, we really appreciate it.”
The prince’s trip is being made predominately in his role as colonel-in-chief of the Mercian Regiment, and on Friday he will meet soldiers from his regiment taking over Nato defence duties in Estonia from The Royal Dragoon Guards.
The president appeared to misspeak when he mentioned the UK’s defence minister and not the armed forces minister who had commented on Nato earlier, when he told William: “This morning the defence minister said he’d probably send some troops to Ukraine.
“Hopefully, some of these troops will stay also.”
Military chiefs from the UK and its allies met in the UK to discuss how a peacekeeping force could operate in Ukraine to deter further Russian attacks if a deal to end the war is reached.
Ahead of the meeting armed forces minister Luke Pollard, commenting on the gathering of military leaders from the “coalition of the willing” told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “If one nation offers fast jet combat air, like a Typhoon aircraft, for instance, how will the other nations work alongside it? Where will it refuel?
“How will it operate with other nations’ capabilities.
“It’s that type of planning that we’re doing today to make sure that any force in or around Ukraine can be as credible as possible…”
He went on to say: “If a deployment means moving a military asset or capability that’s already deployed, how can we backfill those commitments to make sure that we’re not simply moving all our available resources into one location and leaving other flanks of Nato exposed? That’s why this planning is so important today.”
