Support from the Far East: Japan's support for Ukraine

Russia's full-scale war against Ukraine strengthened Ukrainian-Japanese relations, making Tokyo 1 of Kiev's most crucial partners. This is due to the common safety interests of both parties. Kiev provides unchangeable support to Tokyo, which sees assistance to Ukraine as an investment in maintaining stableness on the Indo-Pacific. nipponese interests are threatened by China's increasing revisionist ambitions in the region, and the success of Russian aggression in Europe could take Beijing as an incentive to take action aimed at Tokyo's security. Japan was so a organization initiating support for Ukraine. It has been transferred consistently for over 3 years in the form of financial and humanitarian assistance in particular. So far, it was $15 billion, and another 3.5 billion has already been announced, which ranks Japan at the forefront of the Kiev support countries globally. At the same time, Tokyo continues to keep restrictions on the transfer of arms and military equipment to it, but engages in another crucial areas, specified as non-lethal equipment for Ukrainian armed forces, reconstruction of infrastructure or mine mine.

Concurrent threat vision: calculations of Tokyo and Kiev

The wording “Today Ukraine, next day East Asia?”regularly repeated by both erstwhile Prime Minister Fumio Kishida^[1]as well as the current^[2] – Shigeru Ishiba^[3] – they show a convergent perception of threats in Kiev and Tokyo. It is the consequence of attempts to undermine the regional safety order by Russia in Europe and China in the Indo-Pacific region. From Japan's perspective, the war in Ukraine is more than a regional conflict. In Tokyo, it is seen as a test for global governance and the American strategy of alliances in the context of the dangers that China primarily poses to Japan.^[4].

According to this assessment, Moscow's triumph could dare Beijing to escalate around Taiwan and to exacerbate the dispute with Japan over the island of Senkaku^[5]. It would besides give Pyongyang a boost to the actions that were caught up in the Korean Peninsula or against Tokyo, and in the future it would have been akin to Russia's aggressive steps against Japan, especially in the context of the unresolved dispute over the North Territories (Japanese name), besides known as confederate Kuryle (Russian name).

The nipponese note the increasing link between the safety of east Europe and east Asia in the face of the military rapprochement of Russia with China and North Korea and the participation of the second in aggression against Ukraine^[6]. The strategical Partnership Treaty concluded by Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong Un in 2024 raises additional concerns about the hazard of accelerating the DPRK's atomic and rocket programmes.^[7]. Simultaneous Intensification of Pjongjangu Military Demonstrations^[8] and Beijing in close proximity to nipponese territory strengthens the sense of danger. Support for Ukraine is so a strategical decision aimed at defending global and regional governance by weakening Russia, an ally of local adversaries: China and North Korea.

The support of the government in Tokyo for Ukraine promotes social sentiment. In the fall of 2024, as many as 74% of nipponese supported aid to Russia's assaulted state^[9]. A common motion of solidarity towards its inhabitants was, among others, lighting the buildings to yellow-blue. In the last 3 years, knowing and interest in Ukraine have grown importantly in society, and the nipponese have never united so powerfully in helping another nation^[10]. The Russian invasion drew their attention to this part of the world. The April 2022 IPSOS survey showed that 89% of them were closely observing reports from Ukraine, and 87% viewed aggression as a threat to the safety of their homeland^[11]. According to another study, of March 2022, 67% of nipponese supported sanctions on Russia, even if they cost their own economy^[12]. This state of affairs continues: in August 2025, more than 3 times as many respondents advocated expanding the aid and sanctions on aggressor than against them. At the same time, erstwhile it comes to providing Kiev with arms and military equipment, opposition outweighs support^[13].

The government, entering into social sentiment (and labour marketplace needs), has besides modified its existing restrictive asylum policy and since March 2022 adopted 2747 Ukrainians for whom a peculiar relocation programme was created. Visitors were besides granted subsidiary protection position akin to exile status. This is simply a decisive change, given that in the last 4 decades Japan has mostly accepted about 100 asylum applications per year^[14].

Kiev support promotes the deficiency of major problems in bilateral relations. Furthermore, Japan is simply a key partner in Asia and G7 for Ukraine.

Table. The announced aid to Ukraine as % of GDP (2021) of the selected G7 countries and the Indo-Pacific region (as of August 2025)

Source: Ukraine Support Tracker Data, Kiel Institute For The planet Economy, August 2025, ifw-kiel.de.

Construction of an global coalition and sanctions pressure

Relations with Tokyo became an crucial component of global support for Kiev. This cooperation, although one-sided in terms of fast and measurable benefits – Ukraine cannot offer specified a partner present – is being developed thanks to the proactive attitude of Tokyo. Its expressive expression was the first since the Russian invasion to visit Prime Minister Kishida in Kiev in March 2023. It occurred at the time of the Xi-Putin summit in Moscow, with which it clearly contrasted with the political message.

The review of Volodymyr Zelenski took place 2 months later on the occasion of the G7 summit in Hiroshima,where the president had the chance to straight dialog with Indo-Pacific leaders specified as the Republic of Korea (South Korea) and Australia, and the Global South like India, Brazil, ASEAN countries and the African Union^[15]. Kiev sees in contacts with Tokyo a chance to scope out with communicative to countries with which Ukraine has underdeveloped relations. This is essential in order to gain the broadest possible support in the fight against the invader and in the United Nations General Assembly.

Japan has taken steps to reduce Russia's possible – especially military and technological – by introducing restrictions. It has joined most of the Western sanctions against aggressor, including individual and financial, and military and manufacture enterprises, as well as, in part, energy strength (petroleum), export^[16]. However, it avoided engaging in EU sanctions on Russian iron and steel, and inactive brings gas from the Sakhalin-2 project, which is owned by nipponese companies Mitsui and Mitsubishi Corporation.

Tokyo, which is the second largest (after Belgium) place to store Russian assets, froze the property there worth about $40 billion, and besides limited the sale of dual-use items specified as semiconductors or device tools essential for the aggressor to produce weapons. In addition, Japan has played an crucial function as 1 of the leaders in electronics manufacturing in preventing Russia from accessing chips and another components. The restrictions besides include third-country entities assisting Moscow in circumventing the sanctioning regime, thus making an crucial contribution to sealing the sharpening^[17].

Practical support for Ukrainian defence

Russia's invasion of Ukraine prompted Japan to mitigate the rules of arms exports adopted after planet War II. As early as the first weeks of aggression, Tokyo provided Kiev with support in the form of helmets, bulletproof vests, medical equipment, thermovisions and chemical weapons protection.^[18]. This was the first case in 80 years to assist an army of another state. The adoption of provisions in December 2023 allowing the sale of arms and military equipment manufactured under abroad licences, specified as Patriot air defence missiles, countries of origin of licences (here: USA) can be further demonstrated in this respect. This allowed indirectly to aid the affected country by complementing U.S. reserves from which supplies came for Kiev^[19]. The only direct financial support of the Ukrainian army came through the transfer of 2 tranches of funds – $30 and 37 million respectively – to the NATO Comprehensive Assistance Package (CAP), including anti-drone systems.

Japan sends Ukraine specialized vehicles for usage in the combat zone. In June 2024, she supplied her with more than 1 100 terrain cars Toyota HMV and Mitsubishi kind 73 and Morooka PC-065B caterpillar engineering vehicles^[20]. In December of that year, Deputy Prime Minister Julija Swyridenko announced plans to install nipponese pickups at the Cherkaski Bus factory. The task is to function as a joint venture with Ukrainian maker and nipponese engineering company and to produce the Isuzu D-Max model for military use^[21].

The improvement of safety relations was reflected in the bilateral support and cooperation agreement of 13 June 2024.^[22] The paper stresses, among others, assistance in the field of defence, including securing the needs of the army (except for weapons). It is at the same time the first safety agreement concluded by Ukraine with a state outside NATO.

An crucial component of the cooperation could be the information provided by the nipponese company iQPS, which Kiev began to prosecute after temporarily cutting off access to American support of this kind in March 2025. In April, the parties agreed to share satellite geospatial data and SAR radar images, generated independently of weather and time of day and night. The agreement with the nipponese shows that even after the resumption of U.S. data provision, Ukrainians are seeking to reduce dependence on Washington in this area^[23].

Tokyo besides expressed interest in joining the NATO safety Assistance and Training for Ukraine, coordinating military and training assistance for Kiev. In addition, he participates in talks at the level of Heads of State and Chiefs of Staff on the future moves of the ‘Vident Coalition’ to guarantee stableness of Ukraine in the event of a ceasefire.

Financial lifeline

Japan is firmly leading Asian countries in supporting the affected country and is 1 of its most committed and robust partners in the world. In terms of the value of the funds transferred and declared, only the US, the European Union, Germany and the United Kingdom give way – it spent about $15 billion for this intent and committed to sending another 3.5 billion (see Annex more). The bulk of these funds – around $13.25 billion – was budget aid to support the liquidity of Ukrainian finances and to cover civilian spending. In the coming months, US$2.5 billion will flow to Kiev. Of the full amount of $15.75 billion, the vast majority (14.78 billion) took the form of loans and debt guarantees, partially besides paid out of frozen Russian assets under the G7 ERA (Extraordinary gross Acceleration) initiative.

In addition, Tokyo donated $1.75 billion and promised another 1 billion in humanitarian aid, including direct financial support for victims of war and Ukrainian refugees abroad. She besides participated in initiatives and projects of another states or global organisations and sent in-kind assistance to the flood-stricken after the Russians destroyed the dam in Nowa Kachowce.

The scale and nature of the support provided Ukraine through Japan shows a good comparison of it in this respect with South Korea – an Asian neighbour – and Denmark – a country that allocates akin resources to this purpose. The first offered Kiev about 3.3 billion dollars, including 2.9 billion macro-economic aid (including 2.1 billion loans for the period 2024–2029) and 400 million humanitarian, while, like Tokyo, it only helped the Ukrainian army with a symbolic sum. The latter, with full support of about $11 billion^[24], on the contrary, stresses military support (about 10 billion) alternatively than humanitarian support (about 900 million) and financial support (about 150 million). The contrast in the specificity of Asian aid and European partners of the affected country is perfectly visible here.

Chart. Value of the supported and announced support to Ukraine from selected countries and institutions (as of August 2025)

Source: Ukraine Support Tracker Data, Kiel Institute For The planet Economy, August 2025, ifw-kiel.de.

Search for investment and reconstruction with nipponese accent

Increasing investment and Japan's participation in reconstruction of Ukraine are Kiev's priorities. In 2024, 2 crucial events intensified economical relations between both countries: the Japanese-Ukrainian Conference for economical improvement and Reconstruction in Tokyo (19-20 February) and the Ukrainian-Japanese Business Forum in Osaka (18 December). The first was attended by about 200 companies, which signed 56 agreements on infrastructure reconstruction, demining, agriculture, biotechnology, industry, information technology, humanitarian issues and improvement of public administration.^[25].

The leading representatives of the Ukrainian government encourage nipponese entities to invest, including the usage of lithium for the production of electrical vehicles and the reconstruction of industrial facilities^[26]. Kiev hopes to find nipponese production in the country and establish joint venture companies^[27]. Tokyo supports investments through profiled Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO) and Nippon Export and Investment Insurance (NEXI). JETRO opened an office in Kiev in 2023 and organizes business delegations to identify local possible for joint projects. NEXI encourages companies to enter the market, including by allocating EUR 1.25 billion for guarantees and credit lines^[28]. presently there are over 40 companies from Japan in Ukraine, mainly in the automotive, energy and technology sectors.

However, the improvement of bilateral economical cooperation faces serious obstacles. The limited presence of the nipponese private sector over the Dnieprem is mostly due to widespread corruption there^[29], as well as concerns about the safety of enterprises and workers. These problems are exacerbated by the Ministry of abroad Affairs issued in February 2022 by the alleged highest level informing for visits to Ukraine, hampering the posting of workers and engaging in projects (in Japan government recommendations are widely respected). Corporations, specified as Toyota and Mitsubishi Motors, are besides cautious due to the force from Russia, which discourages companies operating previously on its marketplace and will not prevent the return to it in the future to invest in Ukraine, threatening to permanently break trading ties. In response, Kiev focuses on attracting tiny and medium-sized enterprises more willing to take risks. It besides considers beginning up trade representations in Osaka and Kyoto to facilitate business contacts and to break down logistics and information barriers.

The condition for the effective reconstruction of Ukraine is the smooth demining of its territory^[30]. Japan, recognized as a leader in this field, built its experience with the assistance of Cambodia after ending conflicts there for more than 20 years. Now Tokyo and Phnom Penh have developed the know-how they pass to Ukraine: they send her mine-disposing machines, and their bomb squads are training them to usage them.^[31]. This country uses, among others, mechanized vehicles for demining Komatsu and Nikken, supplied via Japan global Cooperation Agency (JICA), 1 of the largest improvement aid agencies in the world. It has already passed on respective 100 pieces of specialized equipment and equipment, which importantly improved the safety and efficiency of this process^[32]. In addition, in the autumn of 2025, the Ukraine Mine Action Conference (UMAC 2025) is scheduled to take place in Tokyo to coordinate its activities.^[33]. nipponese specialists besides see this aid as a test ground for their own developed technologies, including artificial intelligence^[34].

JICA besides carries out a number of energy, infrastructure and humanitarian projects in Ukraine, trying to cushion the suspension of backing from the USAID. So far, it has allocated around $1.5 billion in cash, equipment and technology, including $58 million to rebuild infrastructure, water supply and waste management. Tokyo supports municipal services in the regions most affected by the war, providing protective gabions (stone-filled structures) to defend critical infrastructure, vehicles, generators, power transformers and medical equipment. It besides supports the removal and treatment of debris. Sumitomo corp and Komaihaltec implement energy infrastructure modernisation projects together with Naftohaz. In January 2025, the JUPITER Joint Platform (Japan-Ukraine Platform on the Infrastructure Technology for Recovery and Reconstruction) was besides launched to advance reconstruction through technologies and investments of nipponese companies.^[35].

Challenges for Partnership

Ukraine intends to strengthen its cooperation with Japan, hoping for further financial and humanitarian assistance, as well as investments in key sectors of the economy: automotive, energy and technologies. She will so be offered joint ventures – production of electrical cars utilizing Ukrainian lithium or expansion of 5G infrastructure. He besides sees in Tokyo the way to the countries of Southeast Asia and Global South, hoping for their diplomatic support in establishing an global coalition against Russia. It besides expects continued assistance in demining and providing intelligence to improve the stableness of the State and to increase its attractiveness to investors.

Despite the dynamic improvement of relations, Japan and Ukraine besides face common challenges. It will be essential to depreciate the possible negative consequences of the United States policy, the main ally of Tokyo, whose commitment to the peace process in Ukraine depends on ending the war in Europe. Trump's administration departs from the paradigm of combined theatre activities and prefers NATO allies on Indo-Pacific (the alleged AP4) to focus on their region, not necessarily on the Old Continent. Nevertheless, it is expected to keep nipponese support for Kiev and further deepen cooperation, and possibly gradually grow it to fresh spheres, specified as cybersecurity.

Annex. nipponese support for Ukraine

Macroeconomic aid (about $15.75 billion):

• $600 million in the form of a debt through the global Bank for Reconstruction and Development,
• $5.5 billion in the form of credit guarantees and grants through the ADVANCE and URTF trust funds of the planet Bank,
• $4.5 billion in the form of credit guarantees through planet Bank programs,
• $470 million in the form of a grant through the PEACE MDTF planet Bank Trust Fund,
• 471.9 billion yen (about $3.3 billion) in the form of credit under the ERA initiative.

Humanitarian aid (about $2.75 billion):

• $500 million in support of global organisations operating in Ukraine, as well as humanitarian aid and reconstruction support,
• $400 million through JICA for equipment to mine and remove debris, rebuild infrastructure, revitalize agriculture, and democratize and improve management,
• $1 billion for humanitarian aid and support in reconstruction and reconstruction,
• $162 million through JICA to improve transport services, water supply and waste recycling,
• $110 million through JICA to mine, power, transport and improvement public-private partnerships,
• $95 million under the United Nations improvement Programme (UNDP) for demining, helping victims, waste management, crisis management and reconstruction planning.

Support for Ukrainian Army ($67 million):

• $30 million to the NATO CAP Trust Fund (Whess-side Support Package for Ukraine) for non-lethal equipment,
• $37 million to NATO CAP, including anti-drone systems.