Kishida, in Ukraine, assures Zelenskyy of continued support

I am actually surprised Kishida visited Kyiv without a pledge of weapons shipment. Weapons pledge is almost a mandatory for any foreign leader wishing to visit Kyiv nowadays.

Happy to see Japan giving support to Ukraine. Now America and Japan has visited Ukraine to give much needed support that they will need given the China Russia meeting. Good on Japan!

Very Good Japan, Democracy and Freedom are at risk as Putin continues to push his evil agenda.

China in Russia; Japan in Ukraine

I am actually surprised Kishida visited Kyiv without a pledge of weapons shipment. Weapons pledge is almost a mandatory for any foreign leader wishing to visit Kyiv nowadays.

Japan doesn't have the weapons production capacity, not even that of South Korea

Is Kishida becoming an environmentalist?

Taking the train in Ukraine could be the start of an end to his dual plane hopping.

Too dangerous to go in a plane at a warzone. Even Biden took a train

China is pressing for a ceasefire to save lives.

Is Japan, the supposed country of peace, pressing for a ceasefire?

Peaceful nations would support a ceasefire.

They should push for Russia to leave Ukrainian lands, and the war would be over just like that

A lot more lives would be saved

Support until the US pulled support this summer

Putin can only pray, Lol

""Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin on Tuesday criticized Kishida, saying at a press conference that the international community should accelerate peace talks and create conditions for a political settlement of the conflict in Ukraine.""

China is supplying Putin, NOT Russia with the lethal means to keep this war going.

China trying to be "peacemakers" while meeting with only one side is quite funny.

Peaceful nations would support a ceasefire.

Here is a ceasefire plan: Russia get out of Ukraine and Crimea

Very nice gesture to see PM Kishida offering prayers for the innocent Ukrainians killed by Russians in their own land - so many of them women and children.

The more free, civilised democracies that stand in support of Ukraine and against fascist Russia, the more the walls close in on the fascist invading trash.

I bet China is really pissed with Kishida's timing and for stating Ukraine's fight for sovereignty has similarities with that of Taiwan, and he is absolutely right.

China trying to be "peacemakers" while meeting with only one side is quite funny.

What are you talking about! Obviously you always read two-side news not to be funny.

Good on you. Here, on JT few people do it.

Was it Volodymyr Zelenskyy who initially asked Fumio Kishida to visit the war-torn Ukraine where the conflicts are still ongoing or was it Kishida himself who wanted to visit the country so as not to miss the train as the leaders of other G-7 countries, UK, US, Italy, Germany, France and Canada have already visited it?

Support until the stopping supporting soon as this summer

Russia get out of Ukraine and Crimea

Putin step down

Russia pay for the damage

Good job, Japan.

voiceofokinawaToday  07:49 am JST

Was it Volodymyr Zelenskyy who initially asked Fumio Kishida to visit the war-torn Ukraine where the conflicts are still ongoing or was it Kishida himself who wanted to visit the country 

What difference does it make to anybody?

Mr. Kishida is sporting a bigger set than my member of Congress who refused to visit Ukraine.

Regardless of how it may appear, it took courage in more ways than one for Kishida’s visit to Ukraine.

I guess if anything comes out of this war, history might show. Ukraine shouldn’t have given up it’s nukes.and the bully with nukes can get away with it. Appeasement through fear!

and how NATO actually works! Sweden, Finland rushing to join NATO, and Russia won’t even contemplate taking Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia which were also part of the old Soviet Union.

That Kishida visits Ukraine, while Xi Jingping visits Russia says it all.

Putin could declare a ceasefire today. Pick up the phone.

China is pressing for a ceasefire to save lives.

How will it save lives if Russia does not leave Ukraine territory, but simply reinforces occupied territory? There will be even more bloodshed and deaths for an even longer period as Ukraine rightly liberates its sovereign territory. So unless China's ceasefire comes with an ironclad guarantee of Russia's complete withdrawal from every inch of Ukraine territory, then it will lead to more death and destruction than would otherwise have occurred.

Is Japan, the supposed country of peace, pressing for a ceasefire?

Indeed, everyone is pressing for Russia to end the conflict and return to its own borders.

Peaceful nations would support a ceasefire.

Peaceful nations support an end to the conflict completely and Russian troops back inside Russia. Dont you?

China as a stated friend & ally of Russia gives Ukraine absolutely no reason to trust China as a mediator of peace. China has made no such statement of equality regarding friendship with Ukraine, will not visit Zelensky in Ukraine as he visited Putin in Moscow, and has offered a peace plan that benefits Russia greatly while penalizing Ukraine.

No peace plan that stifles Ukraine sovereignty and rewards Russia can be seen as acceptable or fair by any neutral party.

Russia had no business invading Ukraine or of starting a civil conflict inside Ukraine for its own benefit. Russia has no right to tell any nation they can not apply to join the EU or NATO, it is a sovereign right each nation in Europe has and can not be removed at Russian insistence. Russia has absolutely no right to interfere in any European nations internal choices and the only right it has is to offer citizenship and sanctuary to ethnic Russians who are not happy living in Ukraine, offering them a new home in Russia itself.

Russia has no leg to stand on as it has caused this since 2014 and is fully responsible for all the deaths, destruction and crimes committed as a result of Russian actions of destabilization and invasion.

China has no legitimate peace plan, only a plan on ending this invasion with large chunks of Ukraine being made Russian, and removing Ukraine's inherent right to choose its own path and associations.

China wants back the Russian-occupied land it took in WW2.

Korea which has an excellent and amicable relations with Russia.

Nothing to be proud of for Korea.

Kishida is not part of NATO he there to talk about the possibility of reconstruction after the war. For Japan this is business contract opportunities. Other than that how he going to support Ukraine? Obviously the sanctions are just not working and Putin is in no hurry to take over Ukraine.

Let's hope now Kishida can figure out how to exit Sakhalin-II.

While Kishida did not offer either weapons, nor proposed peace negotiations, it was still important that he went to Ukraine to see the situation for himself (hopefully he did see more than that golden hall in the main photo).

China is pressing for a ceasefire to save lives.

And has yet to make a call to Zelenskyy, rendering any calls pointless until it does.

Is Japan, the supposed country of peace, pressing for a ceasefire?

Peaceful nations would support a ceasefire.

Peaceful nations would not tell a rape victim not to fight back.

why doesn't Kishida focus on China and Taiwan instead of Ukraine? Get Japan, Russia and India to form a triangle to surround and contain China. I bet that's what Xi is afraid of the most (I am Chinese American Viet) and he's kissing up to Putin because he doesn't want paranoid surroundings. I love Japan and Hong Kong. Not too hot about Taiwan, but they're a must for chips. America won't be with you this month, we have Trump to deal with. Sorry Japan and Korea. You can't rely on France and England either. Germany is a nerd.

why doesn't Kishida focus on China and Taiwan instead of Ukraine? Get Japan, Russia and India to form a triangle to surround and contain China. I bet that's what Xi is afraid of the most (I am Chinese American Viet) and he's kissing up to Putin because he doesn't want paranoid surroundings. I love Japan and Hong Kong. Not too hot about Taiwan, but they're a must for chips. America won't be with you this month, we have Trump to deal with. Sorry Japan and Korea. You can't rely on France and England either. Germany is a nerd.

Russia wants to be a spoiler of the world order. They will be sending weapons to China if it invaded Taiwan if not joining in on the invasion themselves. India is more concerned with playing all of the sides. Like it or not, the US is the only game in town when it comes to fending off Chinese aggression. It's not assured there will be a second Trump presidency and even if there was, he claims China is the good fight.

Bronco,

how many more times?

Peace negotiations - YES, under the conditions set by President Zelenskyy!

Besides, the assistance Japan provides and will continue providing is humanitarian aid, financial aid, but nothing has been said concerning weapons!

China as a stated friend & ally of Russia gives Ukraine absolutely no reason to trust China as a mediator of peace.

No no no !

Yes yes yes!

China is calling for a ceasefire so that's a clear example of peace.

It is to help Russia stall for time to replenish ammuntion stocks, train up conscripts, position more troops and prepare defense in depth to make it more difficult for Ukraine to liberate occupied territory.

The territorial and invasion issue so be discussed diplomaticly and resolved.

Putin was not interested in diplomacy before this all started, he wanted things his way or else. Now he has a tenuous grasp on 15%-20% of Ukraine territory that he now calls Russian territory. Just how will diplomacy wrest that out of Putin's grasp when it was the whole reason behind starting a civil conflict in Ukraine in the first place? There is no diplomacy to be had as Putin will not accept any outcome that is not exactly what he wants. Control over Ukraine and all of its people. Ideally he wants it all to be made Russian with no more existence for Ukraine. Ukraine wants all its territory intact and to become a member of the EU for better prosperity for the people and to join NATO for the protection of the people.

It is not a matter for Russia, but for the people of Ukraine and the EU regarding their membership and NATO members regarding that membership. Russia is an outsider with no right of veto over any other nation joining the EU or NATO. There is no argument that negates those facts.

So just what diplomacy is available to end this? Ukraine to give up land and its sovereign right to choose associations and Russia gains Ukraine lands and veto rights over another sovereign nation? Reward the aggressive invader for murder and destruction and penalize the victim. That is no just outcome. Until there is a just outcome on the table, diplomacy is impossible. leaving only continued armed conflict until Ukraine surrenders and ceases to exist or it pushes Russian forces back into Russia. A simple cease fire saves nothing and makes a difficult situation worse for Ukraine in the end.

It sounds so easy. Everyone stops shooting. Lives are saved for now and Russia wins a huge chunk of Ukraine. But it does not end there, and thats the problem.

Did Kishida mention how they aren't cutting business ties and are still paying Russia to participate in gas projects while they "support Ukraine" and before clearly posing for his photo op?

why doesn't Kishida focus on China and Taiwan instead of Ukraine? 

Don't you see the linkage? If Russia is defeated in Ukraine and especially if the west sticks together in their support of Ukraine China will be forced to reconsider the possibility of success of an attempted military conquest of Taiwan.

OssanAmerica (Mar. 22 | 08:51 am JST),

Yes, there is a big difference. The leader of a country that is currently being engaged in a war against another country makes it a rule not to invite a guest of honor. It is also the case that foreign dignitaries don't visit a country being devastated by the ongoing conflicts, except probably the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees.   

Are the Japanese Prime Minister's duties the same as the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees'?

He is beyond our expectation. At the same time, Chinese prime minister Xi Jinping visited Russia. That is contrast situation and really worth. I think Kishida was able to send a strong message to all of the world.