queen visits to russia

See Photos of Queen Elizabeth's 1994 State Visit to Russia

The Queen's trip to Russia, which followed Boris Yeltsin's trip to the UK, is depicted in season five of The Crown .

In October 1994, president Boris Yeltsin hosted Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip in Russia. It was the first—and only—time a reigning British monarch made a state visit to the country, and the historic trip is depicted in the fifth season of The Crown . The tour followed Yeltsin's 1992 visit to the UK, during which he had lunch at Buckingham Palace. At the time, British officials considered Queen Elizabeth's state visit to Russia "one of the queen's most important foreign trips," according to the Washington Post .

Here, see all the photos of Queen Elizabeth's 1994 trip to Russia, as shown on The Crown :

This is not from the State Visit to Russia, rather this is when Yeltsin visited the UK two years prior. Pictured are Naina Yeltsin, President Boris Yeltsin, Queen Elizabeth, and Prince Philip at Buckingham Palace.

State Visit, 1994

Queen Elizabeth is pictured arriving in Moscow, wearing a glamorous fur coat.

A close-up of the Queen and Prince Philip upon their arrival in Russia.

Throughout the trip, she was accompanied by Boris Yeltsin, who served as president of Russia from 1991 to 1999.

Queen Elizabeth was not the first British royal to visit Russia. In 1973, Prince Philip and Princess Anne attended a horse eventing competition in Kyiv, then part of the Soviet Union, and in 1994, Prince Charles visited Saint Petersburg.

Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip stayed in the Kremlin as guests of Yletsin.

Here, the Queen and Yetsin are pictured at the Bolshoi theatre.

Queen Elizabeth met Patriarch Alexius II and mayor of Moscow Yury Luzhkov; they are pictured here outside Saint Basil's Cathedral.

"For Russia, this visit is the utmost recognition that our country is on the road to democracy," Yeltsin told reporters of the Queen's visit.

As The Crown shows, the murder of Tsar Nicholas II and his family was a reason why the Queen had yet to visit Russia. Her grandfather, King George V, was Nicholas's first cousin.

"You and I have spent most of our lives believing that this evening could never happen. I hope that you are as delighted as I am to be proved wrong," Queen Elizabeth said to Yeltsin at a state banquet.

The two toasted at the banquet.

Queen Elizabeth toured Moscow during her four day trip, including visiting the famous Red Square.

She also met Russian children.

There were more formal events during the trip, too; Queen Elizabeth and Yeltsin attended a ceremony at the Piskarevskoye cemetery, a WWII memorial in St. Petersburg.

During the trip, Prince Philip and the Queen hosted the Yeltsins on board the Royal Yacht Britannia for a banquet.

During her Christmas address two months later, Queen Elizabeth reflected, "I never thought it would be possible in my lifetime to join with the Patriarch of Moscow and his congregation in a service in that wonderful cathedral in the heart of the Moscow Kremlin."

Queen Elizabeth would not return to Russia; Prince Philip returned once more, in 1995, as president of the World Wildlife Fund.

Emily Burack (she/her) is the Senior News Editor for Town & Country, where she covers entertainment, culture, the royals, and a range of other subjects. Before joining T&C, she was the deputy managing editor at Hey Alma , a Jewish culture site. Follow her @emburack on Twitter and Instagram .

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WATCH: Queen Elizabeth was the first British monarch to visit Russia

Queen Elizabeth II, photographed in 1993. RollingNews

On Oct 17, 1994, Queen Elizabeth II became the first ruling British monarch to set foot on Russian soil.

As the eyes of the world are on Russia and the invasion of Ukraine, which has caused I migration of refugees unlike anything seen since World War II, we thought it interesting to look back at the October 1994 of Queen Elizabeth II to the Kremlin, by invitation of the then Russian President Boris Yeltsin.

In 1994 the Queen made a three-day visit to Russia. Three years before had seen the dissolution of the Soviet Union, when Yeltsin took office. His hope was that Her Royal Majesty's visit would strengthen the trade relationship with Britain and the Western World. 

Yeltsin's spokesman, Vyacheslav Kostikov, said at the time "We realize that the British queen would never have visited a Communist country."

• History of "God Save the King", Britain's National Anthem

Personally, 1994 was also a difficult time for the Queen personally as her son, Prince Charles, had separated from Princess Diana, just two years earlier. A biography of the Prince, by Jonathan Dimbleby, had caused a media frenzy over comments made by Charles with relation to his relationship with his mother and father, Prince Philip. 

The Queen and Prince Philip landed in Moscow on Oct 17, 1994. They were then taken to the Kremlin where they were greeted by Yeltsin and his wife, Naina. The Royal pair were also treated to a special performance of the Bolshoi Ballet.

The climax of the tour was a state banquet given on the final evening by the Queen aboard the royal yacht Britannia which had sailed to St. Petersburg to meet the royal party. 

They left Russia on Oct 20 and broke the journey home by visiting Finland. 

Since 1994 some members of the Royal family have visited Russia, including Princess Anne. She visited in 2016 to mark the 75th anniversary of the first Arctic convoys from the United Kingdom during World War II. Prince Charles also Russia in 2003. This visit resulted in a return invitation to President Vladimir Putin to visit Britain later that year.

Check out some AP footage of the Queen having dinner at the Kremlin:

Related: Queen Elizabeth II

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The Queen of travel

Queen Elizabeth II 1926 - 2022

Queen Elizabeth II leaves Fiji during a royal tour in February 1977. Serge Lemoine/Getty Images

The Queen of travel Journeys of a lifetime

By Francesca Street and Mark Oliver, CNN September 13, 2022

S he was traveling the moment she ascended to the throne, and for much of the next seven decades, Queen Elizabeth II criss-crossed the world. Newly married and still just a princess, Britain’s future monarch was in Kenya with husband Prince Philip in February 1952 when she learned of her father’s death and her new regal status.

During her reign she would visit more than 120 countries, witnessing first-hand the revolutions in global travel that shrank the world as her own influence over it diminished.

The Queen lived through the advent of the Jet Age, flew supersonic on the Concorde, saw regimes change, countries form and dissolve, the end of the British Empire and the rise of globalization.

Here are some of the most memorable travel moments from her 70 years as monarch.

November 24-25, 1953

Less than six months after she was crowned at Westminster Abbey in London, Queen Elizabeth set off on her travels again. Her debut official state trip was an epic six-month tour of the Commonwealth -- the alliance of nations which were once British colonies. Traveling by air, sea and land she visited several countries, accompanied by her husband, Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh. First stop was the North Atlantic island of Bermuda, a British territory she would visit a further four times during her reign. The trip would go on to include stops in Jamaica, Tonga, New Zealand, Australia, Cocos Islands, Ceylon (now Sri Lanka), Aden (now part of Yemen), Uganda, Malta and Gibraltar.

December 19-20, 1953

At Queen Elizabeth’s coronation in June 1953, Queen Salote Tupou III of the Polynesian kingdom of Tonga won over the British public when she sat, rain-soaked, in her open carriage. They also took an interest when Elizabeth returned the visit later in the year. The two queens enjoyed an open-air feast, watched Tongan dancers and admired a tortoise that legend said was presented by explorer Captain James Cook to the King of Tonga in 1777.

December 23, 1953 – January 30, 1954

New zealand.

The Queen voyaged to New Zealand during the Antipodean summer of 1953-4. Over the course of the trip, it’s estimated that three out of every four New Zealanders got a glimpse of her. In preparation for the Queen’s visit, some New Zealand sheep were dyed in the UK flag colors of red, white and blue. The Queen returned to the country nine times over the years, including in 2002 as she marked half a century on the throne.

April 10-21, 1954

Ceylon (now sri lanka).

A visit to Ceylon, now Sri Lanka, coincided with the Queen’s 28th birthday. She visited the city of Colombo where crowds joined together to sing her “Happy Birthday.” She also visited the central city of Kandy, where she watched a procession featuring a reported 140 elephants and met local chiefs.

April 8-11, 1957

The Queen had visited France as a young princess, but her first state visit as monarch was a glamorous affair. She attended the Palais Garnier opera house in Paris, visited the Palace of Versailles, and dined at the Louvre with then-President Rene Coty. The Queen also laid a wreath on the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at the Arc de Triomphe and visited the Scottish Church of Paris.

October 17-20, 1957

United states.

Having met President Harry S. Truman in Washington in 1951 during a visit before ascending to the throne, Elizabeth was no stranger to America when she arrived on her first trip as Queen. Her 1957 visit marked the 350th anniversary of the first permanent British settlement on the continent, in Jamestown. The monarch attended a college football game at the former Byrd Stadium in Maryland where she watched the home team lose to North Carolina. She met with President Dwight D. Eisenhower in the White House and later traveled to New York, where she and Prince Philip drove through the streets and admired panoramic views of the city from the Empire State Building.

February 1-16, 1961

The Queen and Prince Philip visited Pakistan in 1961, arriving in the port city of Karachi after completing a visit to India as part of a wider tour of South Asia. She drove through the streets of Karachi in an open-top car, before going on to visit Lahore, where a torchlight military tattoo took place in her honor and Prince Philip played in a game of polo.

February 26 to March 1, 1961

In Nepal, the Queen inspected troops in Kathmandu and met Gurkha ex-servicemen in Pokhara. The monarch rode on an elephant and visited the Hanuman Dhoka Palace complex in Kathmandu. She took part in the rather grim spectacle of a tiger hunt although didn’t shoot any animals herself. She instead recorded the experience on cine camera – a recording device that she often carried with her on her earlier foreign trips.

March 2-6, 1961

The Queen visited pre-revolution Iran at the end of her 1961 South Asian tour. Hosted by Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, she toured ancient monuments including the ruins of Persepolis, once a capital of the Achaemenid Empire, later declared a World Heritage Site. She also saw Sheikh Lotfollah mosque in Esfahan and admired collections of the Archaeological Museum of Iran.

May 5, 1961

Vatican city.

In 1961, Elizabeth became the first British monarch to visit the Vatican. Dressed all in black, the Queen had an audience with Pope John XXIII, also attended by Prince Philip. She returned to the Vatican three more times during her reign, meeting Pope John Paul II and Pope Francis.

November 9-20, 1961

Bombing incidents in the capital Accra left officials worried about the safety of the Queen’s visit to Ghana but, after deliberation, UK Prime Minister Harold Macmillan confirmed it would go ahead. During the trip, the Queen famously shared a dance with Ghana’s then-president, Kwame Nkrumah. At the height of Cold War uncertainty, this seemingly innocuous moment was seen as significant in ensuring Ghana remained affiliated to Britain and not the USSR.

May 18-28, 1965

West germany (now germany).

The Queen’s visit to West Germany and West Berlin was viewed as a symbolic gesture of goodwill in the post-World War II landscape. It was the first royal trip to German territory for more than 50 years and photographs such as one of the Queen and Prince Philip in a car driving past the Brandenburg Gate had symbolic resonance.

November 5-11, 1968

Queen Elizabeth became the first reigning British monarch to visit South America when she landed in Brazil in late 1968. During the trip, the Queen wore a striking jewelry set made of Brazilian aquamarine, gifted to her in 1953 by the Brazilian president and added to over time. The monarch also attended a football match between Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo, and presented the winner’s trophy to Brazilian footballer Pele.

October 18-25, 1971

On the first of two trips to Turkey -- the second took place in 2008 -- the Queen visited the Gallipoli peninsula to remember the Allied soldiers who died there during World War I. The monarch also explored the ruins of the ancient Greek empire city of Ephesus. A media highlight of the visit came when she was photographed leaping ashore from a barge, after disembarking from her ship, the Royal Yacht Britannia.

February 10-15, 1972

Accompanied by Prince Philip and daughter Princess Anne, the Queen was greeted on arrival in Bangkok by a carpet of flower petals. The monarch was given a golden key to the city of Bangkok, attended a state banquet and visited Bang Pa-In Palace, the Thai royal family’s summer residence, north of the capital.

October 17-21, 1972

The Queen’s visit to Yugoslavia was her first trip to a communist country. The Central European country no longer exists -- the areas that the Queen visited are now part of Croatia. During her trip, she met Yugoslav political leader Josip Broz Tito and traveled on his famous Blue Train.

February 15-16, 1974

New hebrides (now vanuatu).

The Queen and Prince Philip visited the Pacific island archipelago of Vanuatu, then known as the New Hebrides, in 1974. It’s said the royal couple’s visit to Vanuatu may have strengthened the belief among some locals on Tanna island that the Duke of Edinburgh was a divine being.

February 24-March 1, 1975

On her first of two visits to Mexico, the Queen toured ancient sites -- including the pyramids of Uxmal, now a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The monarch also received local crafts, met school children and attended a banquet. While she was driven through Mexico City, the Queen was showered in confetti.

February 17-20, 1979

Saudi arabia.

In 1979, the Queen became the first female head of state to visit Saudi Arabia, on a tour of Gulf States. At Riyadh Airport, she was met by King Khalid bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, pictured. The outfits she wore on the trip were carefully designed in accordance with Saudi Arabia’s conservative dress code for women. The Queen arrived on a British Airways supersonic Concorde aircraft and during the visit attended camel races and toured the National Museum.

October 26-27, 1982

The Queen visited Tuvalu, a group of nine islands in the South Pacific, in 1982. Upon arrival, the Queen and Prince Philip were carried in a flower-filled canoe from sea to shore. Thirty years later, in 2012, Prince William visited Tuvalu with his wife, the Duchess of Cambridge, who drank a coconut from a tree planted by Queen Elizabeth on this 1982 visit.

February 26 – March 6, 1983

On a star-studded trip to the United States, the Queen toured the 20th Century-Fox studios in Hollywood with then-First Lady Nancy Reagan and met Frank Sinatra, who she’d previously met in the 1950s, at a party given in her honor. The Queen and Prince Philip also visited Yosemite National Park in California, pictured.

November 10-14, 1983

The Queen returned to Kenya in 1983 for a state visit. When she was there 31 years previously, she'd learned that her father had passed away and she had become Britain’s reigning monarch. In 1983, the Queen and Prince Philip revisited the Treetops hotel, pictured, where they were staying at the time she was told the news.

October 12-18, 1986

The Queen’s trip to China was the first -- and, so far, only -- state visit by a British monarch to China. With Prince Philip by her side, the Queen visited the Great Wall of China, pictured, as well as the Forbidden City in Beijing.

October 17-20, 1994

In 1994, in another royal first, the Queen visited Russia. Over the three-day trip, the Queen met Moscow mayor Yuri Luzhkov, pictured here with the monarch outside St Basil’s Cathedral, as well as Russian President Boris Yeltsin. The Queen also attended the Bolshoi Ballet. In her traditional Christmas Day speech broadcast later that year, the Queen reflected on how times had changed, noting she “never thought it would be possible in [her] lifetime” to attend a service in Moscow’s famous cathedral.

March 19-25, 1995

South africa.

In 1994, after apartheid ended, South Africa rejoined the Commonwealth as a republic. The following year, the Queen traveled there, in a visit designed to renew ties between the two countries. The Queen met with President Nelson Mandela, pictured, and presented him with the Order of Merit.

October 12-18, 1997

The Queen visited India for the third time in 1997, her first public engagement since Princess Diana’s funeral just weeks before. The trip marked 50 years since India’s independence from Britain. Most memorably, the monarch visited the site of the Amritsar massacre, also known as the Jallianwala Bagh massacre, of April 13, 1919. She also expressed regret at a state banquet in New Delhi for the “distressing” episode in which British soldiers gunned down hundreds of unarmed civilians. The gesture was seen by some as inadequate. “The Queen is doing everything she can to make India like her. But so far it does not seem to be working,” wrote the UK’s Independent newspaper at the time.

October 4-15, 2002

The Queen visited Canada many times. In 2002, her trip to the North American country coincided with her Golden Jubilee festivities, celebrating 50 years of her reign. During the trip, the Queen attended an ice hockey game between the Vancouver Canucks and the San Jose Sharks, and dropped the ceremonial puck.

March 11-16, 2006

The Queen visited Australia 16 times as Head of State. In 2006, she traveled to Melbourne to open the Commonwealth Games. She was greeted by a welcoming party in Canberra, visited the Sydney Opera House, attended a Commonwealth Day service in St. Andrew’s Cathedral and toured Admiralty House, the Sydney residence of the Governor-General of Australia.

May 17-20, 2011

The Queen’s trip to Dublin was the first time a British monarch had set foot in the Irish Republic since its 1922 independence. At Dublin Castle the Queen delivered a well-received speech on the history of Anglo-Irish relations. In County Tipperary, she also toured the medieval Rock of Cashel, pictured, once a seat of power for Ireland’s ancient kings.

November 26-28, 2015

From 1949 to 1951, before she was Queen, Elizabeth and Prince Philip lived in Malta. In 2015, the monarch paid her last visit to the island, touring the Grand Harbour in a Maltese fishing boat and waving to members of the British Royal Navy.

United Kingdom

In the later years of her reign, the Queen cut back on foreign travel, passing on the mantle to the younger royals. In more recent years, royal tours have also been looked at with more skeptical eyes, as Britain reckons with its colonial past.

While she didn't travel abroad in the later years of her reign, the Queen continued to vacation in the UK. Most notably, the Queen’s ties with Scotland remained strong throughout her reign and her residence there, Balmoral Castle, was a favorite refuge. It was at Balmoral that the Queen died on September 8, 2022.

ST. PETERSBURG : A Queen in Russia

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Afour-day visit to Russia by Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II and her husband, Prince Philip, ends here Thursday with a trip to the old imperial capital of St. Petersburg in the company of Russian President Boris N. Yeltsin.

The queen arrived in Moscow on Monday and attended a performance that night of the Bolshoi ballet. The royal visit was a rare look at monarchical trappings for Russians, who deposed their own royalty, the 300-year-old Romanov dynasty, in the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution.

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3 sumptuous dishes served to Elizabeth II during her visit to Russia

The Queen Elizabeth II and Boris Yeltsin, the first Russian president.

Queen Elizabeth II made only one official visit to Russia, in October 1994. The menu for the reception held in honor of the queen at the Mariinsky Palace in St. Petersburg has been preserved (and we can reveal those dishes to you!). 

The dinner began by serving St. Petersburg-style borscht with smoked ribs. Then the guest of honor was served Russian appetizers: a crepe with caviar, aspic, sturgeon with horseradish, Stolichny (“capital”) Salad and beef tongue. Salmon and sea perch kulebyaka (or coulibiac) with red caviar sauce was served as the main course. For the dessert, a marzipan apple was made, with a mousse filling called “Golden autumn.”

Here are those three classic recipes used by Russian chefs of the time – Stolichny Salad, St. Petersburg-style borscht and fish coulibiac .

Stolichny Salad

This salad was invented by a chef working at the Moskva Hotel in the middle of the 20th century. It’s based on the Imperial era Olivier Salad, which was made with capers and crayfish tails. The 1955 Cooking book has two versions of Stolichny Salad with practically identical main ingredients, but there’s only one with poultry or wild bird meat; while the other uses sturgeon, beluga or sevruga.

Grigory Yermilin, chef of the Moskva Hotel restaurant, garnishing his famous Stolichny salad.

Ingredients (one serving):

• Poultry (chicken, turkey or wild bird filets) / Fish (sturgeon, sevruga or beluga) – 50-60 g
• Potatoes – 60 g
• Fresh, salted or pickled cucumbers – 40 g
• Green lettuce – 10 g
• Eggs – 2
• “Southern” sauce – 15 g (or sweet-and-sour sauce)
• Mayo - 70 ml

For decoration:

• Pitted black olives – 10
• Crayfish tails – 10
• Canned crabs – 10 g
• Pickles – 10 g
• Pressed caviar - 10 g

Instructions:

• Boil the potatoes in such a way so they won’t fall apart (you can do it with the skin on). Hard-boil the eggs.
• Cut up boiled poultry or fish filets into 2-2.5 cm pieces. In the same way, cut up boiled and peeled potatoes, one egg and cucumbers. Partially cut a cucumber into slices for decoration.
• Finely chop green lettuce leaves.
• Mix all the ingredients. Dress with mayo, and for flavor add “Southern” sauce (based on apple puree and tomato paste).
• After mixing, put the salad in a bowl and form a heap; decorate with boiled egg slices or wedges and with green lettuce leaves. You can also decorate the salad with crayfish tails, canned crabs and black olives.
• To decorate a salad made of poultry, use pickled vegetables and fresh cucumber slices, as well as pieces of poultry meat.
• To decorate a salad made with fish, the salmon is cut into rhombuses and pressed caviar is added.

Don’t be surprised if you order a Stolichny Salad in a cafe or a canteen and you’ll see a salad with boiled beef without any crayfish tails or crabs. Over the last 40 years the recipe was significantly simplified in order to be affordable for the masses.

St. Petersburg-style borscht with smoked ribs

In Russia you more often hear about Moscow borscht with smoked meats or about Kuban borscht with a special type of beetroot. You probably haven’t heard about a St. Petersburg-style borscht. But in the 1909 cooking book, The Practical Fundamentals of the Cookery Art by Pelageya Alexandrova-Ignatieva, a borscht recipe was published “as it’s customary to prepare in St. Petersburg.” Let’s try it!

Ingredients (8-10 servings):

• Beef brisket – 1 kg
• Turnips, carrots, celery – 250 g
• Beetroot – 500 g
• Cabbage – 250 g
• Flour – 2 tablespoons
• Butter – 200 g
• Salt, pepper, bay leaf – to taste
• Tomatoes – 5-10 (or tomato paste – 100 g)
• Pork ribs – 200 g
• Water – 4-5 L
• Pork salo (lard) – 100 g
• Sour cream – to taste
• Chop the beef brisket into portioned pieces so that every piece has a bone. Put the broth on the stove; after removing the foam, add salt and pepper.
• Peel the beetroots, turnips, carrots and celery. Slice the vegetables into strips.
• Peel the onions and chop finely. Sautée them in a deep skillet with butter.
• Add beetroot to the onion and sautée with a lid on. If needed, add more butter. Add turnip, carrot and celery. Add two tablespoons of broth into the skillet.
• Finely chop the cabbage.
• When the sautéed vegetables are done (in about 10 minutes), add cabbage. Sautée for five more minutes.
• Add wheat flour and fry slightly.
• Combine the vegetables and the strained broth in a pot. Separately, rinse the meat from the broth with hot water and put it into the soup.
• Put pork ribs, scalded with boiling water, into the soup, as well as peppercorns and a bay leaf.
• Without a lid, cook the borscht on low heat for an hour.
• Slice the tomatoes into wedges and add to the borscht. Let them sit in the hot borscht for half an hour.
• Ten minutes before serving you can add boiled (or canned) white beans into the borscht to control its thickness.
• Remove excess fat from the borscht and add a salo-based filling (finely chopped fresh or salted salo mixed with sour cream and several spoons of borscht).
• Prepare the mix for borscht coloring: grate peeled red raw beetroot, cover with broth, and let sit for 15-20 minutes. Put the pot with the coloring mix on the stove and bring to a boil several times. Then strain through a sieve and add the resulting liquid into the borscht.
• Half an hour before serving you can add fried and nicely sliced pieces of duck into the borscht.
• You can also add slices of peeled sour apples and separately stew the potatoes (however, Elizabeth II didn’t really like potatoes).

Kulebyaka with salmon, sea perch and caviar sauce

Kulebyaka is called the queen of the Russian table. This closed oval pirog was traditionally prepared for weddings, for Easter and other holidays. Kulebyaka is baked with different fillings in one pirog , separating them with thin pancakes.

READ MORE: What dishes were prepared for traditional Russian weddings?

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Imelda Staunton Recreates Queen Elizabeth's 1994 Visit to Russia While Filming 'The Crown'

The fifth season of  The Crown  will focus on 1990 to 1997, including the Queen's "annus horribilis"

Stephanie Petit is a Royals Editor, Writer and Reporter at PEOPLE.

Imelda Staunton is recreating Queen Elizabeth 's state visit to Russia in the latest scenes from The Crown .

The upcoming season Netflix's hit drama will include the monarch's 1994 visit to Russia. In photos from the set, Staunton sports a yellow dress topped by a fur coat and accessorized with gloves, her signature handbag and a coordinating hat, recreating the ensemble worn by the Queen as she inspected Russian service personnel at Vnukovo Airport in Moscow.

The Queen's three-day visit in October 1994 marked the first time a ruling British monarch had visited Russia — and it remains her only visit to the country. She was accompanied by her husband, Prince Philip , on the trip. The Duke of Edinburgh, who died last year at age 99, will be portrayed in season 5 and 6 of The Crown by Jonathan Pryce , as the Netflix drama switched out their cast as the characters age.

Shooting the scenes is of particular significance given Russia's ongoing invasion of Ukraine.

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy thanked Britain's royal family for voicing their support for the country on March 1.

Zelenskyy tweeted that he and his wife, Olena, "are grateful to the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge @RoyalFamily that at this crucial time, when Ukraine is courageously opposing Russia's invasion, they stand by our country and support our brave citizens."

"Good will triumph," he added.

Queen Elizabeth , 95, also made a "generous donation" last week to the Disasters Emergency Committee's Ukraine Humanitarian Appeal.

The fifth season of The Crown will reportedly focus on 1990 to 1997 and feature a new cast, including Dominic West playing Prince Charles and Elizabeth Debicki as Princess Diana.

The storyline may focus in part on 1992, which the Queen declared to be an "annus horribilis" (Latin for "horrible year"). It was the year in which three of her four children were separated from their spouses and a devastating fire hit Windsor Castle.

Though season 5 was initially intended to be the series' curtain call, creators changed their minds and, to fans' great relief, promised that the historical drama will continue to rule Netflix queues for a final, sixth season.

Can't get enough of PEOPLE 's Royals coverage? Sign up for our free Royals newsletter to get the latest updates on Kate Middleton , Meghan Markle and more!

"As we started to discuss the storylines for Series 5, it soon became clear that in order to do justice to the richness and complexity of the story we should go back to the original plan and do six seasons," creator Peter Morgan said in July 2020. "To be clear, Series 6 will not bring us any closer to present-day — it will simply enable us to cover the same period in greater detail."

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In Kyiv, Blinken Discusses Ukraine’s Push for Deep Missile Strikes into Russia

Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken and his British counterpart, David Lammy, made a rare joint trip to Ukraine to show allied solidarity as the American presidential election looms.

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By Edward Wong

Reporting from Kyiv, Ukraine, while traveling with the U.S. secretary of state

In a rare joint visit abroad, Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken and his British counterpart, David Lammy , met with the top leaders of Ukraine in Kyiv on Wednesday to discuss bolstering the Ukrainian military and whether to allow it to use imported long-range missiles to strike deep into Russia.

Mr. Blinken and Mr. Lammy said they had heard views from President Volodymyr Zelensky on Ukraine’s desire to fire missiles provided by the United States and Britain at Russian targets well beyond the border between the two warring nations.

They told reporters at a news conference that they would convey what they had heard to President Biden and Keir Starmer, the prime minister of Britain, and that those two leaders would discuss it when they meet in Washington on Friday.

The talks on Wednesday were focused on “the situation on the battlefield, Ukraine’s objectives and what it needs to succeed going forward,” Mr. Blinken said, adding that long-range fire was among the topics. “I’m going to take that discussion back to Washington to brief the president on what I heard,” he said.

“From day one, as you’ve heard me say, we have adjusted and adapted as needs have changed, as the battlefield has changed,” he said.

Mr. Lammy confirmed that the officials had talked about Ukraine using American and British long-range missiles to hit Russia. “We’ve had detailed conversations today with President Zelensky,” he said. “We recognize that Ukraine is on the frontline of the fight for freedom.”

The visit came as the Biden administration struggles to curtail aid to Russia from Iran, North Korea and China, and as the U.S. presidential elections loom over the conflict.

Mr. Blinken alluded to anxieties over the election at the news conference and to the state of aid for Ukraine if Donald J. Trump, the Republican candidate, were to win in November.

“The bottom line is this: We want Ukraine to win, and we’re fully committed to keep marshaling the support that it needs,” he said. “Support for Ukraine will endure because it doesn’t depend on any one country, any one party, any one election."

But the United States has been by far the largest provider of military aid to Ukraine. And Mr. Blinken announced additional humanitarian and energy infrastructure aid on Wednesday.

Two air-raid sirens sounded in the evening, once as Mr. Blinken and Mr. Lammy met with Mr. Zelensky, and once at the end of their news conference in the foreign ministry. A third siren sounded late at night, soon after Mr. Blinken and Mr. Lammy boarded a train for the return trip to Poland.

After stepping off a private overnight train from Poland in the morning, the top American and British diplomats met throughout the day with military and civilian officials, including Ukraine’s new foreign minister, Andrii Sybiha, who was appointed last Thursday by Mr. Zelensky as part of an overhaul of the government’s top ranks .

After 5 p.m., Mr. Zelensky, Mr. Sybiha and four other Ukrainian officials met with Mr. Blinken, Mr. Lammy and their aides at the Mariyinsky Palace, the presidential residence.

Mr. Lammy said it had been well over a decade since the top diplomats from the United States and Britain had traveled together. He added that the governments were determined to address the threat posed to Ukraine by Iran’s shipments of short-range ballistic missiles to Russia, an accusation Mr. Blinken and Mr. Lammy made publicly in London on Tuesday.

At 6:15 local time, the first air raid siren of Mr. Blinken’s trip sounded, with Ukraine’s air force saying it had picked up a missile threat from the north.

Mr. Blinken’s visit came as part of a busy day in the capital for Mr. Zelensky. He also welcomed leaders of Latvia, Lithuania and Croatia, who came to attend the annual Crimea Platform summit, which is dedicated to reversing the illegal annexation of the peninsula by Russia in 2014.

Mr. Zelensky unveiled a memorial commemorating the tragedy that befell the Crimean Tatar people, an ethnic minority repressed by Stalin , who — in a foreshadowing of the Kremlin’s justification for its current war — accused them of being Nazi collaborators and deported them en masse. Thousands died.

“Memory compels us to act,” Mr. Zelensky said, noting that the return of Crimea to Ukraine is a key part of ensuring a lasting peace.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey, speaking by video at the summit, said, “The return of Crimea to Ukraine is a requirement of international law.”

The first debate between Mr. Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris took place in the middle of the night during Mr. Blinken and Mr. Lammy’s Kyiv-bound train ride. A few passengers on Mr. Blinken’s train stayed up to watch at least the start of the debate, but most scrambled online in the morning to read assessments of the event.

Officials in Ukraine were tracking the debate as well: Mr. Trump, who has expressed admiration for Mr. Putin, has rallied a significant number of Republican politicians to oppose U.S. military aid to Ukraine, while Ms. Harris has vowed to continue supporting the besieged country. Asked during the debate specifically if he wanted Ukraine to win, Mr. Trump delivered a 400-word reply but did not say “yes.”

In recent weeks, the Ukrainian military has made a surprising incursion into the Russian region of Kursk, lifting morale in Ukraine. But that offensive has failed to divert Russian units from their onslaught in eastern Ukraine, where they continue to make small but steady gains.

At the news conference, American and British reporters pressed Mr. Blinken and Mr. Lammy on entreaties from Ukrainian officials for permission for the Ukrainian military to use missiles provided by those nations for strikes deep into Russian territory.

In May, the Biden administration gave Ukraine permission to use U.S. weapons for shorter cross-border attacks against Russian sites that were being used in an offensive against the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv. Since then, U.S. officials have allowed the Ukrainian military to make that kind of shorter strike at other places along the border.

On Tuesday, Mr. Lammy called Iran’s ballistic missile shipments to Russia a “significant escalation,” and in Kyiv on Wednesday he said that Britain was joining the United States in imposing sanctions on Iran and Russia. Iranian officials have denied they made any such shipment, and in Moscow on Wednesday, the Kremlin denied it was receiving weaponry from other nations.

Until now, Iran has mainly supplied Russia with drones, while North Korea has provided artillery shells and ballistic missiles. The Biden administration says Chinese companies are selling factory machine tools and microelectronics to Russia to help it rebuild its arms-production industry.

“We’re seeing this new axis: Russia, Iran, North Korea,” Mr. Lammy said. “We’re urging China not to throw their lot in with this group of renegades.”

Also on Wednesday, Mr. Zelensky attended an international conference on justice, where he said Ukrainian investigators had gathered evidence of 137,000 war crimes committed by Russian forces since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion in 2022. And he chided Mongolia’s decision to host Mr. Putin recently — the Russian leader’s first trip to a member nation of the International Criminal Court since it issued a warrant for his arrest last year — and Brazil’s plans to invite Mr. Putin to a meeting of the Group of 20 later this year.

Those invitations were signs of the degradation of the international system of law, Mr. Zelensky said, and “the demolition of the remaining norm must not be allowed.”

Marc Santora contributed reporting from Kyiv, Ukraine, and Ivan Nechepurenko contributed from Tbilisi, Georgia.

Edward Wong reports on global affairs, U.S. foreign policy and the State Department. He is the author of the book “At the Edge of Empire: A Family’s Reckoning with China.” More about Edward Wong

Trump won't say if he wants Ukraine to win the war, a debate night warning even as the U.S. offers a new show of support

KYIV, Ukraine — Ukraine woke Wednesday to a glaring display of the potentially expanding range — and possible limits — of American support .

Hours after former President Donald Trump refused to say whether he wanted the U.S. ally to win the war against Russia , Kyiv welcomed Washington's top diplomat — hoping he will bring a long-awaited shift on its use of long-range weapons .

Secretary of State Antony Blinken's visit offered a show of support at a critical moment in the conflict, while the timing offered contrast with Trump's comments, perhaps the most notable foreign policy moment of his presidential debate with Vice President Kamala Harris .

But in Ukraine, many eyes were focused on Blinken's arrival and whether it would herald news that the U.S. will allow its ally's military to use Western-supplied long-range weapons to strike deeper inside Russian territory.

Kyiv has been pressing for a change in policy, frustrated that Western restrictions have tied its hands as it fights to hold on to territory on two fronts: the 500 square miles seized in its daring incursion into Russia's Kursk border region and the strategic towns on the eastern front lines in the sights of Moscow's military .

President Joe Biden hinted Tuesday that Kyiv might be about to get what it wants after months of resistance from the White House.

“We’re working that out right now,” Biden told reporters when he was asked whether the U.S. would lift restrictions on Ukraine’s use of long-range weapons.

U.S. support for Ukraine was given voice on the debate stage Tuesday night by Harris, who told Trump that Russian President Vladimir Putin “would eat you for lunch” and that if Trump had been in the White House when Moscow’s troops invaded in February 2022, “Putin would be sitting in Kyiv right now.”

But the clash also offered signs of just how fragile that backing might be.

Trump was asked twice whether or not he wants Ukraine to win the war, but he skirted the question both times. "I want the war to stop," he said, adding that he would negotiate a deal with Moscow and that he wants “to save lives.”

Trump has said he would end the war within 24 hours of becoming president, without providing details.

His response may heighten concerns in Kyiv that a Trump administration would remove U.S. support and seek an end to the war on terms favorable to Russia.

Svitlana Guseva, a financial analyst in Kyiv who watched the debate, said she found Trump's comments “triggering.”

“I understand that there won’t be aid,” Guseva, 53, said in a telephone interview, talking about a scenario in which Trump returns to the White House. “But I want to say that Kamala Harris also doesn’t have a clear position on peace. Yes, her party will continue supporting Ukraine, but I did not hear anything about peace and how she would attain peace.”

She said Blinken's visit Wednesday gave her hope for “a step forward” on long-range strikes. The issue is of utmost importance to Ukraine, Guseva said, because Kyiv has to be able to adequately respond to Russia's strikes deep inside her country, so “some sort of compromise” can be reached in the future.

'Boxing on the Titanic'

While Kyiv may be anxiously awaiting the outcome of November's election, the Kremlin has played down the difference between the two candidates.

In a tongue-in-cheek comment last week, Putin claimed that he supported Harris in part because of her “infectious” laugh.

It was widely seen as Putin’s latest mischievous intervention, given Trump’s history of praise for him and the mounting indications that Trump would not maintain U.S. support for Ukraine’s war effort.

And foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said Wednesday that she did not understand why the debate was a big deal at all, comparing it to a boxing match on board the Titanic.

“Who do you think won? Does this make any difference?” Zakharova told the Russian news agency Radio Sputnik. “There are 15 minutes left until the iceberg.”

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said later Wednesday that it was clear the U.S. “maintains a negative attitude, an unfriendly attitude, toward our country,” no matter the party politics.

The Kremlin was not following the debate live, he said, but it paid attention to the fact that both candidates mentioned Russia and Putin. “Putin's last name is being used as one of the tools in internal political struggle in the U.S.,” Peskov said. “We really, really don’t like it. We hope that they will leave our president's name alone.”

Asked what Russia’s reaction would be to the U.S. lifting its restrictions on Ukraine's use of long-range weapons, Peskov told reporters that such a decision had most likely already been made and that Moscow would respond “appropriately,” although he said the “special military operation,” as the Kremlin calls its war in Ukraine, is a response “to all these actions.”

Moscow has warned many times about the consequences of such a decision.

“Russia will protest an extension of U.S. permissions. It will threaten, it will bluster, but this will not, on past evidence, translate into much in the way of concrete retaliation,” said Christopher Tuck, an expert in conflict and security at King’s College London.

“Militarily, however, an extension of permissions is likely to create only a temporary advantage to Ukraine because, also on past evidence, Russia will adapt to meet the new threat,” Tuck added.

Daryna Mayer reported from Kyiv and Yuliya Talmazan from London.

Daryna Mayer is an NBC News producer and reporter based in Kyiv, Ukraine.

Yuliya Talmazan is a reporter for NBC News Digital, based in London.