Prime Minister Kishida heads for war-torn Ukraine. Behind the Scenes of Kyiv’s “Blitz Visit

On March 21, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida was on his way home from a visit to India when his plane changed course and headed for Poland.

At 9:30 a.m. Japan time on March 21, Prime Minister Kishida changed trains from the railroad station in Přemysl, a town on the border with Ukraine in southeastern Poland, and is now proceeding toward Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine.

Immediately after taking off from India on a chartered plane that had switched from the government plane used to fly from Haneda to the Param Air Force Base in New Delhi, India, the following tense news was received at the Prime Minister’s Office and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, according to a source close to the Foreign Ministry leadership.

The “government plane” has taken off safely. The Prime Minister had a stiff expression on his face, and his lips seemed to be trembling slightly.

The plan to visit Ukraine, devised by a very small number of Prime Minister’s Office staff and a few people from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, was finally carried out.

In April 2022, then British Prime Minister Johnson paid a surprise visit to Kyiv, followed in May by Canadian Prime Minister Trudeau. This was followed by visits by the leaders of three European countries: France, Germany, and Italy. Then, on February 20 of this year, US President Biden entered Ukraine without prior official notice. He held talks with President Zelensky. It was shortly after this that Prime Minister Kishida exploded with anger.

He said, “I will definitely visit Kyiv before the Hiroshima summit. As the Kishida administration, we can’t afford not to visit Ukraine.”

From the day that Tetsuya Ohtsuru, a secretary to the prime minister on secondment from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, was given this strict order, a top-secret plan for a surprise visit to Ukraine was formulated by a very limited number of personnel from related departments, led by the vice minister for foreign affairs. A senior government official said.

Prime Minister Kishida’s visit to Ukraine was a ‘mission impossible. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it was impossible, impossible, impossible. However, secret efforts were made behind the scenes by Otsuru and others around Kishida to persuade the Diet. Immediately after Biden’s visit to Ukraine, Jun Azumi, chairman of the National Diet Committee of the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ), was able to obtain an understanding that in the case of Kishida’s visit to Ukraine, it would be acceptable to make an ‘after-the-fact report’ to the Diet. On the other hand, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs had expressed its reluctance to allow the prime minister to go to Ukraine, which is a war zone, because it has a travel danger level 4 evacuation advisory.

The highest level of warning has been issued to the public not to travel to Ukraine. However, even amidst this situation, private-sector support for Ukraine continued uninterruptedly, including that of TV personality Mrs. Davy. The leaders of various countries were visiting one after another. The prime minister was impatient. He was a leader of a developed country, but today he is finally going to be able to enter Ukraine.

For the Long-Desired “Success of the Hiroshima Summit

Prime Minister Kishida is scheduled to attend the Hiroshima summit in his hometown, along with the leaders of South Korea, India, Australia, Indonesia, the Cook Islands, Comoros, Brazil, and Vietnam, as well as the leaders of the United Nations, the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the International Energy Agency (IEA), the World Health Organization （The leaders of the United Nations, the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, the International Energy Agency, the World Health Organization, and the World Trade Organization have announced that they will be invited to attend the meeting.

Prime Minister Kishida has stated that he will invite the heads of the Prime Minister Kishida has announced that he will invite the heads of the G7 Prime Minister Kishida, as chairman of the G7, would like to invite President Zelensky to the summit, if the situation permits.

If this were to happen, it would be a great honor for Prime Minister Kishida, who advocates the “Kishida of diplomacy” and is also the chairman of the G7. A senior official at the Ministry of Defense said, “The prime minister and his immediate circle have been working hard to bring about an agreement.

A senior official at the Ministry of Defense said, “The prime minister and his immediate circle have analyzed that when Chinese President Xi Jinping visits Russia, the war situation will temporarily become an air pocket, making the situation more or less secure.

A senior Foreign Ministry official also said.

‘Before President Xi meets online with President Zelensky, at all costs, Kishida.’ -As a matter of fact, it would be a good idea to Zelensky before President Xi met with President Zelensky online.

Prime Minister Kishida is now “aiming” to visit Ukraine, the last of the G7 leaders to visit the war-torn country. Although it was a late turn, Kishida’s diplomacy, which boldly went to the war zone at a time when the war situation is hardening and the future is uncertain, may be appreciated by the world. We hope that Prime Minister Kishida will not only visit Ukraine but also go to Russia to meet with President Putin in coordination with China, negotiate an end to the war with strong conviction, and make efforts for world peace. Although the “blitz” visit was reported before it was realized, we hope that Japan will be able to successfully complete this great opportunity to demonstrate its presence in the world.