Japan top diplomat makes first visit to Ukraine since war’s start

Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi made an unannounced visit to Ukraine on Saturday for the first time since Russia’s February 2022 invasion of its neighbor in a show of Tokyo’s support for Kyiv amid the bloody conflict.

Hayashi met with a spate of officials in Kyiv, including President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, with the two agreeing “to begin talks on a bilateral Ukrainian-Japanese agreement on security guarantees,” Zelenskyy said.

Group of Seven nations, of which Japan is a member, said in July that its members would begin bilateral security guarantees talks with Ukraine soon.