TOKYO– Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida announced $5.5 billion in new financial aid to Ukraine on Monday and will mark the first anniversary of the war by hosting an online Group of Seven summit with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Kishida, speaking at a global forum in Tokyo organized by a Japanese think tank, said Ukraine was still suffering from the Russian invasion and its people needed help to rebuild their daily lives and their homes. infrastructure severely damaged by Russian attacks.
As G-7 chair this year, Kishida said he would host an online summit that Zelenskyy would join on Friday to mark the one-year anniversary of the Russian invasion. This will be Kishida’s first time hosting a G-7 summit.
Japan has joined the United States and European nations in sanctioning Russia for its invasion and providing humanitarian and economic support to Ukraine. Japan has been quick to react as it fears a possible impact of the war in East Asia, where the Chinese military has become increasingly assertive and has heightened tensions around self-governing Taiwan, which Beijing claims as its territory.
In his speech, Kishida acknowledged that he had taken a decisive step because of “the strong concern that Ukraine could be the East Asia of tomorrow”.
He said Russia’s invasion is a challenge to the entire rules-based international order that is ending the post-Cold War era. “That’s why I decided to resolutely respond to (Russia) with sanctions.”
Japan has provided loans of more than 70 billion yen ($520 million) to Ukraine as part of emergency economic aid. The country has also taken in more than 2,000 displaced Ukrainians and assisted them with housing assistance, employment and education support.
ABC News
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