40 Minutes in Bucha, 2 Hours 40 Minutes of Summit Talks: Prime Minister Kishida’s Visit to Kyiv

On March 21, 2023, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida (then in office) visited Ukraine at the invitation of President Volodymyr Zelensky. According to an announcement the Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued the same day, the schedule was to hold summit talks in Kyiv, visit Poland on the 22nd, and return to Japan on the morning of the 23rd.

This was a little over a year after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine began. In the table of high-level visits in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ “Ukraine: Basic Data” (dated September 3, 2026), the only recorded visits to Ukraine by a Japanese prime minister since 1995 are Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s in June 2015 and Prime Minister Kishida’s in March 2023 — two in total. This article follows, using Ministry of Foreign Affairs materials published as of September 2026, what happened that day, what was promised, and what became of it afterward.

Laying Flowers in Bucha, and the Memorial to the Fallen

According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ record, Prime Minister Kishida visited the city of Bucha, on the outskirts of Kyiv, for about 40 minutes starting at 9:00 p.m. Japan time (2:00 p.m. local time). He laid flowers for the victims, heard directly from what the Ministry describes as “people who went through terrible experiences because of Russia’s outrageous acts,” and was briefed on the recovery under way there. He also inspected generators that the Japanese government had sent to the city as winter support.

He then went on to the Memorial to the Fallen Defenders in Kyiv, where, from 10:20 p.m. Japan time (3:20 p.m. local time) for about 10 minutes, he laid flowers for victims of the Russian invasion and others.

What Was Discussed in the Two Hours and 40 Minutes of Summit Talks

The summit talks and working dinner ran from 10:50 p.m. Japan time on the 21st (3:50 p.m. local time) to 2:50 a.m. on the 22nd (7:50 p.m. local time on the 21st), with a joint press conference in between, for a total of about two hours and 40 minutes. Drawing on the summary the Ministry of Foreign Affairs published, the main points are set out below by area.

President Zelensky said he deeply appreciated both the “over $7 billion” in support Japan had already provided and the new support. At this point, his participation in the Hiroshima Summit had been agreed as an online appearance. How the President actually came to Hiroshima in May and took part in person is covered in Zelensky Was Set to Join Online — Then He Came to Hiroshima.

The Joint Statement’s 27 Points

As a result of the talks, the two leaders issued a “Joint Statement on the Special Global Partnership between Japan and Ukraine.” Dated March 21, 2023, in Kyiv, it has 27 points in all. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has published the English text and a provisional Japanese translation. Points of particular interest to readers are listed below, following the wording of that provisional translation.

• Point 1: The two leaders condemned in the strongest possible terms Russia’s illegal, unprovoked and unjustifiable aggression against Ukraine, and shared the view that it was a grave violation of the principles of sovereignty and territorial integrity under the UN Charter.
• Point 3: They stressed their continued full commitment to the policy of non-recognition of Russia’s illegal attempts to annex Ukrainian territory, and stated that Russia must immediately and unconditionally withdraw all its forces and equipment from the whole territory of Ukraine.
• Points 8 and 9: They condemned Russia’s threats to use nuclear weapons and stressed that Russia must not break the 77-year record of non-use of nuclear weapons. They expressed the gravest concern over the seizure and militarization of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant.
• Point 12: The President expressed gratitude for Japan’s leadership as G7 chair, including the increase in G7 members’ financial and economic support commitments to US$39 billion.
• Point 18: Ukraine welcomed Japan’s readiness to provide support for the protection and preservation of cultural heritage damaged by the war.
• Point 20: Noting that Japan was G7 chair for 2023 and a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council for 2023-2024, the two sides stated they would deepen cooperation in international fora.

The statement also notes that the previous year, 2022, was the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Japan and Ukraine (Point 15). Diplomatic relations were established on January 26, 1992 (the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ “Ukraine: Basic Data”). A timeline of the two countries’ relations since then is set out in A Timeline of Japan and Ukraine.

What Took Shape Afterward

Among the matters agreed at the summit, some can be traced further through Ministry of Foreign Affairs announcements. One is the information protection agreement. Coordination toward it was agreed in March 2023, and at a summit meeting on September 23, 2024, held while Prime Minister Kishida and President Zelensky were both visiting the United States to attend the UN General Assembly, Prime Minister Kishida welcomed “substantial agreement” on the agreement. It was signed on November 16, 2024, by Ambassador to Ukraine Masashi Nakagome and the First Deputy Head of Ukraine’s Security Service, and took effect on June 21, 2025. The agreement sets out measures such as requiring the receiving government to protect, under its own laws, classified information that needs protection for national security reasons when the other government provides it.

The other is the exchange of visits between the two leaders. In May, the President came to Japan for the Hiroshima Summit, and in February 2024 the Japan-Ukraine Conference for Promotion of Economic Reconstruction was held in Tokyo, attended by Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal (see The 56 Cooperation Documents Unveiled in Tokyo, and What Moved Afterward). The bilateral treaties and arrangements column of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ basic data lists the June 2024 “Accord between the Government of Japan and Ukraine on Support and Cooperation for Ukraine.”

At the summit meeting on September 23, 2024, President Zelensky expressed his gratitude for, among other things, “the strengthening of bilateral relations through Prime Minister Kishida’s visit to Kyiv in March of last year,” and, at the start of the meeting, personally presented Prime Minister Kishida with Ukraine’s “Order of Yaroslav the Wise, First Class.” According to a note from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, First Class is the highest grade of this order.

Later Summit Meetings Were in Third Countries

After Prime Minister Kishida, the summit meetings held up to September 2026 have taken place in third countries, on the occasion of G7 summits or the UN General Assembly. The meeting with Prime Minister Ishiba on June 17, 2025, was in Kananaskis, Canada, and the meeting with Prime Minister Takaichi on September 22, 2026 (local time), was in New York. The “outbound” table in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ basic data lists no visit to Ukraine by a prime minister after March 2023. What it does list are visits by ministers and vice-ministers, such as Foreign Minister Hayashi in September 2023, Foreign Minister Kamikawa in January 2024, and Foreign Minister Iwaya in November 2024.

The record of March 21, 2023, consists of 40 minutes in Bucha, 10 minutes at the memorial, and two hours and 40 minutes of talks. The information protection agreement, whose coordination was agreed to begin on the spot, took effect two years and three months later, after signature and domestic procedures.