The Kyiv-Tokyo axis: Japan‘s normative response to Russian aggression

Since the onset of Russia’s invasion, Japan has emerged as one of Ukraine’s most important global partners. Its expanding support, from humanitarian aid to bilateral security cooperation, reflects a broader transformation in Japanese foreign policy and Tokyo’s evolving strategic interests in East Asia.

Key takeaways:

Japan has emerged as one of Ukraine’s most significant global supporters since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022. According to the Kiel Institute for the World Economy, Japan is currently the third-largest provider of financial assistance, the fourth-largest in humanitarian aid, and the fifth-largest contributor overall. Since March 2022, Tokyo has allocated $10.7 billion to support Ukraine. While impressive in absolute terms, this figure is also notable relative to Japan’s economic capacity, amounting to 0.2% of its GDP. This level of commitment underscores the political and strategic importance Tokyo places on its support for Ukraine. 

Japan’s financial assistance to Ukraine has been structured through a mix of loans, guarantees, and grants, totaling $9.18 billion by April 2025. This support has evolved both in scale and form, reflecting a consistent and expanding commitment. In the initial phase of the war, Japan delivered $200 million in assistance within the first two months, focusing primarily on emergency needs. As the conflict dragged on, Tokyo significantly ramped up its engagement: in 2023, it provided $3.7 billion in concessional loans and grants, making it the third-largest donor globally that year. This upward trend continued into 2024, when Japan became the largest provider of budgetary assistance to Ukraine during the first two months of the year.

In parallel, Tokyo allocated approximately $62 million in military-related assistance, which may be modest in scale but is symbolically significant given Japan’s traditionally pacifist defense posture. Taken together, these figures reveal a clear trajectory of deepening involvement and a long-term financial commitment to Ukraine.

The most recent milestone in Japan’s aid came in April 2025, when Ukrainian Finance Minister Sergii Marchenko and Japanese Ambassador Masashi Nakagome signed an agreement for a $3 billion loan. This funding was delivered through the Extraordinary Revenue Acceleration (ERA) mechanism, a groundbreaking model approved by G7 leaders in June 2024. ERA utilizes revenues generated from immobilized Russian state assets held across EU jurisdictions. While the EU and the United States had already activated the mechanism, Japan became the first country outside NATO to implement it. Moreover, the $3 billion loan represents the largest single financial package disbursed through ERA to date, highlighting Japan’s pivotal role in operationalizing the mechanism and reinforcing collective G7 support for Ukraine.

Japan’s budgetary assistance has been vital in sustaining Ukraine’s essential public services. It helps fund salaries for healthcare workers, maintains social welfare schemes, and supports the restoration of critical infrastructure. Coordinated closely with G7 partners, Japan’s approach ensures strategic alignment and impact. By embracing and advancing the ERA mechanism, Japan helped transform what was initially a Western-led initiative into a genuinely global financial instrument, marking a significant step forward in the international governance of sanctioned assets and lending both legal and political momentum to this unprecedented framework under international law.

In humanitarian terms, Japan has provided €1.5 billion in aid to Ukraine, making it the third-largest humanitarian donor globally. This support includes targeted assistance for food security and energy infrastructure, two of the war’s most pressing civilian challenges. Tokyo’s contributions in the energy sector have been particularly noteworthy. Through the Japan International Cooperation Agency and in partnership with the United Nations Development Programme, Japan has delivered over 1,000 generators and energy units to Ukraine, alongside seven high-voltage transformers and five gas turbines. These contributions have played a critical role in stabilizing Ukraine’s electricity grid and mitigating the humanitarian consequences of Russia’s systematic attacks on energy infrastructure.

Japan’s support for global food security also reflects a broader geopolitical vision. In November 2022, Tokyo provided a $14 million grant to Somalia through the United Nations World Food Program (WFP) to purchase Ukrainian wheat, demonstrating Japan’s commitment to leveraging Ukrainian agricultural exports to address wider global needs. Throughout the conflict, Japan has consistently supported WFP initiatives through targeted funding.

Additionally, Japan allocated $17 million to a Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) project aimed at storing and exporting Ukrainian grain via a humanitarian corridor through Romania. This initial investment was followed by several additional disbursements, bringing Japan’s total FAO funding for Ukraine to $30.2 million. These efforts have not only addressed immediate humanitarian needs but also helped sustain Ukraine’s role as a key global agricultural exporter amid wartime disruption.

Another key area of Japanese involvement has been in demining operations. Japan has supplied Ukraine with its domestically developed Advanced Landmine Imaging System, a device used to detect unexploded ordnance. To ensure effective use of the equipment, personnel from Ukraine’s State Emergency Service received training in Cambodia and Poland. While demining is often associated with military activity, Japan’s assistance in this area has been delivered strictly through civilian and humanitarian channels. This support underscores Japan’s technical expertise and its broader commitment to post-conflict recovery and humanitarian assistance, both in Ukraine and globally.

Security posture reimagined 

Taken together, Japan’s support for Ukraine signals a profound shift in its postwar foreign policy orientation. Article 9 of Japan’s postwar Constitution explicitly renounces the use of force in international disputes and the maintenance of war potential. For decades, this pacifist stance defined Japan’s global role, placing strict limits on its engagement in security affairs. However, Japan’s orientation has gradually evolved over the past decade, increasingly shaped by the principle of sekkyokuteki heiwa shugi (“proactive contribution to peace”), a doctrine championed by the late Prime Minister Shinzō Abe following his return to office in 2012. This principle calls on Japan to shoulder greater international responsibility and to act as a stabilizing force within the global order.

The most visible regional expression of this transformation is the “Free and Open Indo-Pacific” (FOIP) strategy, launched by Abe in 2016. FOIP is grounded in the belief that the region’s prosperity and security depend on upholding the rule of law, promoting free trade, and ensuring freedom of navigation. Designed as a response to China’s growing assertiveness in the South and East China Seas, FOIP also seeks to deepen strategic cooperation with regional partners such as India, ASEAN member states, and G20 countries.

Japan’s annual Diplomatic Bluebooks have consistently reaffirmed these priorities, presenting FOIP as central to both regional and global stability. Importantly, FOIP is not narrowly focused on countering China. Rather, Japan views the Indo-Pacific as a complex geopolitical space shaped by a wide range of challenges, including terrorism, piracy, and climate-related disasters. Through FOIP, Japan aims to respond to these multifaceted risks by strengthening institutional partnerships and expanding development cooperation.

Geopolitical signaling to East Asia

Ukraine has become part of this broader strategic landscape—not geographically, but conceptually—through Japan’s framing of Russian aggression as a precedent-setting act with potential repercussions in East Asia. This perspective was made explicit by Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, who remarked to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky that “Ukraine today may be East Asia tomorrow.”

The statement encapsulates how Japan views its support for Ukraine not simply as a matter of humanitarian concern or alliance solidarity, but as a component of its own national security. The logic is clear: if left unchecked, acts of aggression by authoritarian states may embolden similar behavior elsewhere, including in Taiwan or the South China Sea.

Japan’s role has expanded not only in bilateral terms but also multilaterally. In June 2024, Japan became the first non-NATO country to sign a bilateral security agreement with Ukraine. This landmark deal was built on Japan’s diplomatic leadership during its 2023 G7 presidency and reflects Tokyo’s growing willingness to adopt a more proactive defense and security posture on the global stage.

Within the G7, Japan’s stance reinforces the unity of democratic nations and signals its long-term commitment to upholding the rules-based international order. The strategic value of Japan’s assistance to Ukraine, therefore, extends beyond immediate outcomes. It serves as a tangible demonstration of Japan’s evolving identity as a diplomatic and security actor—one increasingly willing to deploy not only development tools but also political capital and financial instruments in pursuit of shared global values.

Through FOIP and its Ukraine policy, Japan is crafting a hybrid model of foreign engagement, blending humanitarianism, deterrence, and development. Infrastructure development, support for energy resilience, and demining operations are deployed not only as tools of stabilization but also as means of projecting strategic influence beyond the Indo-Pacific. In Ukraine’s case, these efforts bolster Japan’s standing among Western allies, expand its diplomatic footprint in Eastern Europe, and reinforce its identity as a proactive contributor to the global order. This model is designed not only to support vulnerable states but also to protect Japan’s own strategic interests in a turbulent and competitive international environment.

Japan’s transformation is not without implications for its neighbors and partners. Its assertive stance against Russia sends a clear signal to China, North Korea, and other regional actors that Japan is prepared to defend the principle of sovereignty and stability through coordinated, rules-based action, including support for states facing external threats, such as Ukraine. Domestically, it contributes to a gradual redefinition of public expectations around the scope of Japan’s international responsibilities.

Conclusion

Looking ahead, Japan’s support for Ukraine shows a consistent—and in some areas, even growing—trajectory. Notably, Tokyo has maintained this course even amid uncertainty and debate within the United States over the long-term direction of its Ukraine policy, under both the Biden and Trump administrations. Regardless of such signals, Japan has repeatedly affirmed its enduring commitment to Ukraine’s recovery and stability. This stance reflects a growing degree of strategic autonomy within the US–Japan alliance and underscores Tokyo’s evolving role from a reactive partner to a proactive actor shaping its own geopolitical agenda in response to global security challenges.