Kyiv Is 7 Hours Behind Japan, 6 in Summer: Ukraine’s Time and Daylight Saving

When it is noon in Japan, it is 5 a.m. in Kyiv. From late March to late October, however, it is 6 a.m. Ukraine sets its clocks an hour ahead during the summer, so the time difference with Japan shifts between 7 and 6 hours depending on the season.

This system is set by a 1996 Cabinet resolution. The Verkhovna Rada passed a law in 2024 to abolish daylight saving time, but as of September 2026 that law is not in force. The following traces the rules on timekeeping, and how they have changed, through the text of the legislation.

Kyiv Time Is the “Second Time Zone”

Ukraine’s time is set by Cabinet Resolution No. 509 of May 13, 1996, “On the Procedure for Calculating Time on the Territory of Ukraine.” The resolution designates Ukraine’s time as “the time of the second time zone (Kyiv time),” and provides that clocks are set an hour ahead at 3 a.m. on the last Sunday of March each year, and set back an hour at 4 a.m. on the last Sunday of October. Railways, ships, aviation and intercity buses also operate on Kyiv time.

The second time zone is two hours ahead of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). In winter, Kyiv is UTC+2; during daylight saving time, it is UTC+3. The resolution’s preamble states that it takes into account the timekeeping procedure that European countries have used since 1996. In the Verkhovna Rada’s legislative database, this resolution is shown as being in force as of September 24, 2026, and the December 2025 amendment only rewrote the name of the responsible ministry.

The Time Difference with Japan: 7 Hours in Winter, 6 in Summer

Japan Standard Time is set by Imperial Ordinance No. 51 of 1886 (Meiji 19). The ordinance takes the meridian through the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, England as the reference for longitude, and states that, from January 1, 1888, the time at the 135th meridian east becomes Japan’s standard time. Since 15 degrees of longitude equals one hour, 135 degrees is 9 hours ahead of Greenwich — that is, UTC+9.

For example, an online class starting at 9 a.m. Kyiv time begins at 4 p.m. Japan time in winter, and 3 p.m. in summer. The system for taking Ukrainian school classes from Japan is introduced in our article on the system for studying just six Ukrainian subjects while attending a Japanese school.

1990: Breaking from Moscow Time

During the Soviet era, Ukraine used Moscow time. On June 11, 1990, the Verkhovna Rada of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, by Resolution No. 15-XII, established “the time of the second time zone” on the republic’s territory from July 1, 1990. The original text of the resolution included the phrase “the time obtained by subtracting one hour from Moscow time”; this phrase was removed by a 1992 resolution.

Daylight saving time began after independence. On March 6, 1992, the Verkhovna Rada, by Resolution No. 2176-XII, decided to introduce daylight saving time in consideration of the timekeeping procedure used in Europe, and left the implementation procedure to the Cabinet. Cabinet Resolution No. 139 of the same month (March 20, 1992) set the clocks ahead at 2 a.m. on the last Sunday of March and back at 3 a.m. on the last Sunday of September. The 1996 Resolution No. 509 moved the “set back” date to the last Sunday of October and changed the times to 3 a.m. for setting ahead and 4 a.m. for setting back.

2011: Daylight Saving Abolished, Then Reversed Within a Month

On September 20, 2011, the Verkhovna Rada, by Resolution No. 3755-VI, decided to use “the time of the second time zone plus one hour” from March 27, 2011 — in effect, staying on daylight saving time and not setting the clocks back in autumn. This resolution was promulgated on October 1 of that year, but the Verkhovna Rada rescinded it by Resolution No. 3914-VI on October 18, and asked the Cabinet to submit a bill on timekeeping within a month.

The Law Passed in 2024 Has Not Been Signed

The bill to abolish daylight saving time was submitted by lawmaker Ruslan Stefanchuk on October 9, 2020 (Bill No. 4201). It was adopted as a basis at first reading in February 2021, and was passed on July 16, 2024 as Law No. 3856-IX, “On the Calculation of Time in Ukraine.”

The content of the law is as follows.

• Defines Kyiv time as “the time of the time zone containing the capital, Kyiv, corresponding to UTC+2,” making it a single time nationwide (Articles 1 and 4)
• Clocks are not to be set forward or back with the seasons (Article 4(2))
• Dates are counted using the Gregorian calendar (Article 3)
• Takes effect from January 1, 2025 (Article 8)

According to the Verkhovna Rada’s bill records, this law was sent to the President for signature on August 21, 2024. As of September 24, 2026, the record stops there. Article 94 of the Constitution provides that a law takes effect once it has been officially promulgated (or from a date the law itself specifies), and this unpromulgated law has not taken effect. Ukraine’s clocks still run according to the 1996 Cabinet resolution. How to read law numbers and terms such as “signature” and “promulgation” is explained in our article on reading Ukrainian legislation in the original — “-IX” means the 9th convocation of parliament.

If this law were to take effect, Ukraine would be UTC+2 year-round, and the time difference with Japan would be 7 hours year-round.

Clocks in Occupied Territory

In Russian-occupied territory, Russia sets clocks to Moscow time. In Crimea and Sevastopol, clocks were moved forward to Moscow time on March 30, 2014 (per a report by TASS, the Russian state news agency). Russia’s federal law “On the Calculation of Time” (2011, No. 107), as amended on April 14, 2023, places occupied Crimea, Sevastopol, Donetsk oblast, Luhansk oblast, Zaporizhzhia oblast and Kherson oblast — using Russia’s own names for them — within its “second time zone” (Moscow time, UTC+3).

Because of this, during winter, clocks in occupied territory show a time one hour ahead of the rest of Ukraine. In summer, since Ukraine is also UTC+3, the times match.

These territories are internationally recognized as Ukrainian. The UN General Assembly, in Resolution 68/262 of March 27, 2014, declared the “referendum” in Crimea and Sevastopol invalid, and in Resolution ES-11/4 of October 12, 2022, declared that Russia’s actions regarding the four oblasts of Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk and Zaporizhzhia have no validity under international law. Ukrainian law (Article 9 of the 2014 Law on the Temporarily Occupied Territories) also invalidates decisions made by bodies established in occupied territory without legal basis. Japan’s position is summarized in our article on how Japan does not recognize either “annexation” — Crimea in 2014 or the four oblasts in 2022.

When Noting Down Times

Times given in Ukrainian announcements and news are usually Kyiv time. When converting to Japan time, first check whether the date falls within the daylight saving period. Around the last Sundays of March and October, the same “7 o’clock” will convert to Japan time differently by an hour on either side. Times reported from occupied territory may, in winter, be given in Moscow time.