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Japanese-Ukrainian relations are formaldiplomatic relations betweenJapan andUkraine. Japan extended diplomatic recognition to the Ukrainian state on December 28, 1991, immediately after the breakup of theSoviet Union and full diplomatic relations were established on January 26, 1992.
Ukraine has an embassy inTokyo,[1] andJapan has an embassy inKyiv.[2]
From the beginning of 2008, Ukrainian-Japanese relations have improved significantly, with regular exchanges between the two countries sponsored by groups such asInvestUkraine, the Ukrainian-Japanese center and theJapan External Trade Organization.[3] On March 25, 2009,Yulia Tymoshenko,Prime Minister of Ukraine, visited Japan and met withTaro Aso, Prime Minister of Japan. In a joint statement, they welcomed cooperation in trade, investment and energy conservation, and discussed the effect of the recent economic crisis among other topics.[4]
Thebalance of trade between Ukraine and Japan is heavily weighed in favor of Ukraine, with Japan exporting steel pipe and automobiles and importing aluminum and food products.[5] In a different form of trade, on July 15, 2008, Japan, a signatory to theKyoto Protocol, agreed to buy greenhouse-gas emission allowances from Ukraine to reach a target set under the U.N. climate-change treaty.[6] The deal was finalized on March 26, 2009.[7]
Japan also has assisted Ukrainian educational and cultural institutions financially in the amount of more than US$4.3 million in the 1998 till 2009 period. Moreover, Japan provided Ukraine with grants of more than $151.8 million.[8]
Japan has reflected that they are a staunch ally to Ukraine in the midst of theannexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation. The Japanese government placed sanctions onRussia and Japan was the only East Asian country to do so,[9] although it has been noted that the sanctions were designed in a way to have no real effect and that the Japanese government did not want to jeopardize itsrelations with Russia. Tokyo criticized Russia, saying that Russia is violating the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Ukraine.[10] In addition, the Japanese government has stated that they are willing to provide Ukraine with US$1.5 billion in financial aid when Kyiv agrees to accept and enact various IMF reforms.[11]
In February 2022, after theRussian invasion of Ukraine, Japan imposed sanctions on Russia which prohibited the issuance of Russian bonds in Japan, froze the assets of certain Russian individuals, and restricted travel to Japan.[12] Ukrainian PresidentVolodymyr Zelenskyy praised Japan as the "first Asian nation that has begun exerting pressure on Russia."[13]
On 20 March 2022, Japanese Prime MinisterFumio Kishida and his Cambodian counterpart,Hun Sen, urged Russia to halt the war in Ukraine immediately and remove its forces, calling the aggression "a grave breach of the United Nations Charter."[14]
At the end of March 2022, theMinistry of Foreign Affairs of Japan announced that it had changed the spelling of the name of the capital of Ukraine so that it would be closer to the Ukrainian pronunciation than to the Russian one. This happened at the request of the Ukrainian authorities. The earlier version wasキエフKiefu from theRussian:Киев (Кіевъ),romanized: Kiev, and the current name isキーウKīu from theUkrainian:Київ,romanized: Kyiv.[15]
In February 2024, theJapan International Cooperation Agency agreed that Ukraine would receive a grant for the implementation of the Ukraine Emergency Recovery Programme.[16] Additionally, the JapaneseIHI Corporation offered help to build a bridge across theDanube Delta and a bridge across theDniester Estuary. TheJapan Bank for International Cooperation via theBlack Sea Trade and Development Bank will also provideUS$150 million loan to support recovery projects by Ukrainian businesses.[16] Following his visit to Tokyo, Prime Minister of UkraineDenys Shmyhal stated that "Japan should become one of the leaders in the economic recovery and reconstruction of Ukraine".[16]
On 13 June 2024, along with the United States, Japan has signed a bilateral security agreement with Ukraine.
New Prime MinisterShigeru Ishiba was similar to his predecessor Fumio Kishida, that he has maintained support for Ukraine during theRussian invasion that began in 2022.[17] In February 2025, Defense MinisterGen Nakatani revealed that theJapan Self-Defense Forces would provide approximately 30 additional transport vehicles to the Ukrainian military.[18] After a heated argument between Ukrainian PresidentVolodymyr Zelenskyy and Donald Trump and his Vice PresidentJD Vance during a meeting at the White House that was televised live on 28 February 2025, Ishiba stated that the meeting "took a somewhat unexpected turn and there appears to have been a very emotional exchange of words" and that Japan would "do all it can to prevent divisions between the United States and Ukraine."[19][20]Yoshihiko Noda, the leader of theConstitutional Democratic Party, accused Ishiba of not having a 'clear message' regarding the break between Trump and Zelenskyy and not 'doing enough' after divisions began to form between the US and Ukraine and Europe. At a press conference inŌita, Noda stated that "Prime Minister Ishiba has not sent a clear message. Japan's stance is unclear."[21] In March 2025, Japan adjusted its language on support for Ukraine from “strengthen” to "will maintain” support. The change was made to minimize the difference between Japanese and US policy.[22] That same month, Japanese representatives participated in meetings of theCoalition of the Willing.[23][24] Aftera meeting between Zelenskyy, several European leaders, and Trump at the White House in August 2025, Ishiba stated that the Japanese government would consider a potential role in providing security guarantees to Ukraine, as part of a wider peace agreement.[25]
UkrainianPresidentViktor Yushchenko visited in July 2005, where he discussed, among other things, theChernobyl clean-up program.[26]
On October 30, 2011, the Japanese government raised the number of workers at the embassy in Kyiv from 30 to 36, in order to learn more about how Ukraine dealt with theChernobyl nuclear disaster, as Japan was still in the wake of theFukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster.
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Ukrainian PresidentLeonid Kuchma made a state visit to Japan in March 1995. PresidentViktor Yushchenko subsequently visited in July 2005.[26]Viktor Yanukovych also visited Japan in 2011,Petro Poroshenko in 2016 andVolodymyr Zelensky in 2019.[28] After the Russian full-scale invasion,President of UkraineVolodymyr Zelenskyy visited Japan in May 2023 to attend the49th G7 summit.[29]
Prime Minister of JapanShinzo Abe visited Ukraine in 2015, held a meeting withPetro Poroshenko.[30] Prime MinisterFumio Kishidavisited Ukraine in March 2023.[31]
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