Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy are set to sign an agreement on Tokyo's long-term support for Kyiv amid Russia's prolonged war against its neighbor, as they met in Italy on Thursday.
The 10-year deal will stipulate that Japan and Ukraine would hold consultations within 24 hours of any future invasion by Russia to discuss practical assistance, referring to Tokyo's commitment to Kyiv's reconstruction, government sources said.
Japan has offered support to Ukraine, but it has been limited to nonmilitary assistance due to restrictions on providing weapons under its war-renouncing Constitution. Meanwhile, Western countries have supplied battle tanks and fighter jets.
Kishida and Zelenskyy met on the sidelines of a three-day Group of Seven summit in Fasano in southern Italy through Saturday. It is the second consecutive year that Zelenskyy has been invited to attend the G7 summit in person as a guest.
The agreement between Japan and Ukraine would follow a joint declaration by the G7 leaders issued in July 2023, in which they promised to work with Ukraine "on specific, bilateral, long-term security commitments" and other supportive measures.
Since Russia began its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Japan has condemned the aggression along with other G7 members and like-minded nations while boosting support for Kyiv and imposing strict economic sanctions on Moscow.
In February, Japan hosted a conference on the reconstruction of Ukraine in Tokyo, pledging 15.8 billion yen ($100 million) in grant aid to assist with the restoration of electricity and other energy infrastructure, among other recovery projects.
Afterward, Japan and Ukraine signed 56 memorandums of cooperation in seven areas, including agriculture and digitalization. Kishida and Zelenskyy last held in-person bilateral talks in May 2023 on the fringes of the G7 summit in Hiroshima, western Japan.
