Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi made an unannounced visit to Ukraine on Saturday for the first time since Russia's February 2022 invasion of its neighbor in a show of Tokyo's support for Kyiv amid the bloody conflict.
Hayashi met with a spate of officials in Kyiv, including President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, with the two agreeing "to begin talks on a bilateral Ukrainian-Japanese agreement on security guarantees," Zelenskyy said.
Group of Seven nations, of which Japan is a member, said in July that its members would begin bilateral security guarantees talks with Ukraine soon.
"I am grateful to Japan for remaining our key partner in Asia and supporting Ukraine," Zelenskyy wrote on X, the social media site formerly known as Twitter.
Earlier, Hayashi met his Ukrainian counterpart, Dmytro Kuleba, for talks in which he reiterated Japan's "unwavering support" for Kyiv and for ending Russia's invasion as soon as possible, the Japanese Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
The two also discussed a Japan-Ukraine investment conference due sometime before the beginning of next year focusing on the war-torn country's economic recovery and reconstruction "from a 'uniquely Japanese' perspective" through the public and private sectors, the ministry said.
During his visit, Hayashi also toured the Kyiv suburb of Bucha, which became synonymous with Russian atrocities in the early days of the war.
With the visit to Ukraine, Hayashi became the final top diplomat from a Group of Seven nation to visit the country following the invasion.
In a separate statement released by Japan's Foreign Ministry, Hayashi also slammed Russia's sham elections in Ukraine's occupied areas, calling the annexation of the territory as well as the polls "totally unacceptable."
"Russia’s aggression against Ukraine is an outrageous act that shakes the very foundation of the international order, and Japan cannot condone any attempts to unilaterally change the status quo by force," Hayashi was quoted as saying.
The ministry said a delegation of Japanese business representatives — reportedly including Rakuten chief Hiroshi Mikitani — were accompanying Hayashi on the visit. The business officials will have a chance to "directly listen to and communicate with" the Ukrainian side about the country's reconstruction needs, serving as an opportunity to deepen Japanese firms' the involvement in future assistance to Kyiv, the ministry added.
Japan has provided Ukraine with more than $7 billion in aid and has sent nonlethal defense gear to Kyiv. But legal constraints on the transfer of lethal defense equipment make it virtually impossible for the country to play a larger role on that front.
In March, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida became the final G7 leader to visit Kyiv, holding talks with Zelenskyy. In May, Zelenskyy made a surprise visit to Hiroshima for the G7 summit, where the war in Ukraine took center stage.
culled from Japan Times
