Japan pledges millions more to support Ukraine on foreign minister’s surprise visit
- Japanese Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa said on Sunday that Tokyo would allocate US$37 million to Kyiv to provide a drone detection system
- ‘Japan is determined to support Ukraine so that peace can return,’ she said. Tokyo has allocated some US$1 billion in humanitarian aid to Kyiv so far
Japanese Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa said on a surprise visit to Kyiv on Sunday that Tokyo was “determined” to support Ukraine, as the second anniversary of the Russian invasion nears.
During her first foreign trip of 2024, Kamikawa held a press conference with her Ukrainian counterpart Dmytro Kuleba in a Kyiv bomb shelter as an air siren rang out.
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“Japan is determined to support Ukraine so that peace can return to Ukraine,” she said, sitting at a desk in a cellar with Kuleba. “I can feel how tense the situation in Ukraine is now.”
Her visit came during an escalation of attacks on both sides in the conflict.
“I once again strongly condemn Russia’s missile and drone attacks, particularly on New Year’s Day,” said Kamikawa, the first foreign guest in Ukraine this year.
She announced that Tokyo would “allocate US$37 million to provide a drone detection system”.