Japanese Prime Minister Kishida is considering a visit to Ukraine

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has stated that he will consider visiting Ukraine for talks with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy if the right conditions are met, as reported by Kyodo News.

“Nothing has been decided at the moment, but we will consider” visiting Ukraine based on “various circumstances,” Kishida told a parliamentary session after a ruling party lawmaker urged the prime minister to follow the leaders’ lead. from other partner nations that have already visited the country.

Kishida is scheduled to host a three-day G7 summit starting May 19 in Hiroshima.

At the meeting, Kishida will outline his vision of a world without nuclear weapons amid fears that Russia could use one against Ukraine in the ongoing war, amid several months of low approval ratings from his Cabinet.

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Among the G7 countries, British, Canadian, French, German and Italian leaders have already visited Ukraine since the war began. In December, US President Joe Biden also held a summit with Zelenskyy in Washington.

Kishida has been looking forward to a trip to Ukraine as chairman of the upcoming G7 summit, but a Japanese government official said it might be difficult to organize his visit to the Eastern European state for security reasons.

Relations between Japan and Russia have been deteriorating as Tokyo, along with other G7 members, has been imposing punitive sanctions on Moscow in the wake of its aggression against Ukraine.

Zelenskyy has invited Kishida to visit Ukraine and conveyed his “deep gratitude” for Tokyo’s support.

Japan’s chief cabinet secretary, Hirokazu Matsuno, the government’s top spokesman, declared on Tuesday that Tokyo “will continue to offer help” to the people of Ukraine, who are facing a “national crisis.”

Meanwhile, during a meeting in Washington in January, Kishida and Biden expressed their “firm opposition to Russia’s brutal and unfair war of aggression against Ukraine,” pledging to continue imposing sanctions on Moscow, including freezing President Vladimir Putin’s assets. .