Head of Ukraine's Presidential Office Andriy Yermak invited Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida to visit Ukraine, a top spokesperson for the government said on Jan. 6, Reuters reports.
Yermak extended the invitation to Japan's ambassador to Ukraine on Jan. 4, Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno told a news conference on Jan. 6.
"Japan stands with the citizens of Ukraine ... and takes appropriate steps as this year's G7 chair," Matsuno said, Reuters reports.
Kishida is planning to visit Group of Seven (G7) countries ahead of the annual G7 summit in May in Japan's Hiroshima.
Shinzo Abe, the longest-serving prime minister in Japan’s history, assassinated on July 8, was the only Japanese prime minister to have ever visited Ukraine. He held a meeting in Kyiv in 2015 with then-president Petro Poroshenko.