Japan’s foreign minister to visit war-torn Ukraine with business leaders to discuss reconstruction

By MARI YAMAGUCHI
Associated Press

TOKYO (AP) — Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi, accompanied by a number of business leaders, is visiting Ukraine on Saturday for talks with his counterpart to show support for the war-torn country and emphasize his country’s backing of sanctions against Russia, the Japanese foreign ministry said in a statement. Hayashi, who had been on a tour of the Middle East and Poland earlier this week, will meet with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba in Kyiv. This is his first visit since the war began over a year ago. Tokyo plans to host a Japan-Ukraine conference aimed at economic reconstruction of the war-ravaged country sometime at the end of this year or early next year.