In the wake of U.S. President Joe Biden’s surprise visit to Kyiv on Monday, pressure is growing for Prime Minister Fumio Kishida — the last remaining Group of Seven leader not to visit Ukraine since last year’s invasion by Russia — to travel to the war-torn country.
Although Friday’s one-year anniversary of the start of the war has raised questions over a possible trip to Kyiv in the coming days or weeks — especially after Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s trip there on Tuesday — Japanese officials have remained tight-lipped.
“We are examining the possibility of a visit in light of various circumstances, but at the moment nothing has been decided yet,” Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno, the government’s top spokesman, told reporters on Wednesday.