KYODO NEWS



 

Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi made an unannounced visit to Ukraine on Saturday, the Japanese government said, in a show of support for the Eastern European nation's efforts to defend itself against Russia's ongoing invasion.

It is the first Ukraine visit by the Japanese foreign minister since Moscow launched the war in February 2022. All other Group of Seven member nations have sent their foreign ministers to Ukraine after the invasion, making Japan the last to do so.

Hayashi, who embarked on a trip to the Middle East and Poland last Sunday, held talks with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba in Kyiv and told him of Japan's plan to hold a conference to promote the economic reconstruction of Ukraine at the beginning of next year in Japan, the Foreign Ministry said.

During his trip to Ukraine, the Japanese minister visited Bucha, a town on the outskirts of Kyiv where many civilians were killed under Russian occupation in the early days of the invasion, and inspected a mass grave outside a church.

Bucha has become the greatest symbol of Moscow's atrocities in the ongoing war.

Hayashi is also expected to attend a ceremony for the provision of Japanese crane trucks designed to remove unexploded munitions and promised support in preparations for winter.

His trip comes after Prime Minister Fumio Kishida's surprise visit to Kyiv in March for talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy ahead of the G-7 summit in Hiroshima in May.

At the meeting with Zelenskyy, Kishida promised $470 million in grant aid for the energy sector and a $30 million contribution for the supply of nonlethal equipment through a NATO fund and invited him to virtually join in the Hiroshima gathering.

Japan has pledged over $7.6 billion in total in support for Ukraine so far and provided assistance in the removal of landmines and debris, as well as the reconstruction of infrastructure, among other areas.

Zelenskyy attended the G-7 summit in the western Japan city in person on its closing day, with the leaders of the major democracies there vowing to support Ukraine "for as long as it takes in the face of Russia's illegal war of aggression."

With the aim of encouraging the Japanese private sector to engage in Ukraine's reconstruction, e-commerce giant Rakuten Group Inc. chairman and CEO Hiroshi Mikitani and other business leaders accompanied Hayashi to Ukraine, according to the sources.

Hayashi took the role of foreign minister in November 2021. Earlier this week, he toured Jordan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Poland to hold meetings with his counterparts and their leaders.