Japan’s Prime Minister Takaichi pledges support for Ukraine — The Japan Times
Japan’s Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said during her first meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in New York that Tokyo would continue supporting Ukraine and maintain sanctions against Russia, the aggressor state. The talks took place on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly.
“Japan stands with Ukraine. This policy will not change,” Takaichi said before the closed-door part of the meeting. She added that Japan, together with the international community, would support Ukraine and maintain sanctions against Russia.
Japan’s assistance
As The Japan Times reports, Japan has supported Ukraine since the beginning of the Russian Federation’s full-scale invasion — the aggressor state — in 2022. At the same time, Japanese legal restrictions on exports of lethal weapons have limited Tokyo’s military support to non-lethal items, including trucks and body armor.
Japan has also supplied generators to support power provision and led efforts to plan the future reconstruction of Ukraine’s damaged and destroyed infrastructure. Zelenskyy thanked Takaichi and Japan, and also said that Ukraine would welcome Japanese businesses in rebuilding the country.
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Defense cooperation
Earlier, in an interview with the media, Zelenskyy spoke about the possibility of closer cooperation with Japan in drone development and the supply of air defense equipment. However, before the meeting with Takaichi, he did not publicly request additional assistance in these areas.
Last month, the Ukrainian president told ambassadors that bilateral relations with Japan still did not meet Kyiv’s “high expectations.” These statements came after reports of Ukraine’s interest in cooperation with Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, one of the few non-U.S. companies licensed to produce modern Patriot interceptor missiles.
The meeting took place amid a further deterioration in relations between Japan and Russia following Russian President Vladimir Putin’s visit to Russian-controlled islands near Hokkaido, seized by the Soviet Union at the end of World War II.
