Japan to provide 100 military vehicles to Ukraine
- Japanese Vice Defence Minister Toshiro Ino handed a document to Ukrainian Ambassador Sergiy Korsunsky listing the 3 types of vehicles included
- The donation, which also includes 30,000 food rations, comes as Japan’s government is seeking to ease its military equipment transfer policy
Japan held a ceremony on Wednesday marking its planned donation of about 100 military vehicles to Ukraine, as Tokyo seeks to provide equipment that can be of broader military use than its earlier shipments of helmets and hazmat suits.
In a ceremony at the Defence Ministry at which two half-tonne trucks were on display, Japanese Vice Defence Minister Toshiro Ino handed a document to Ukrainian Ambassador Sergiy Korsunsky listing the three types of vehicles included in the donation.
“We hope the invasion ends as soon as possible and peaceful daily lives return,” Ino said. “We will provide as much support as we can.”
The donation, which also includes 30,000 food rations, comes as Japan’s government is seeking to ease its military equipment transfer policy under a new national security policy that allows its military a greater offensive role, in a major break from its post-World War II self-defence-only principle.
While other countries have provided Ukraine with tanks, missiles and fighter jets, Japan has limited its donations to non-lethal equipment because the transfer policy prohibits the provision of lethal weapons to countries at war.