Support for Ukraine: Japan Must Work to Share Roles with NATO

Editorial

17:03 JST, July 14, 2024

It is significant that the North Atlantic Treaty Organization has pledged to continue providing military and financial support to Ukraine.

Japan also needs to steadfastly support Ukraine with a focus on nonmilitary areas.

A NATO summit was held in Washington, and the summit declaration stated that the member states will never recognize “Russia’s illegal annexations of Ukrainian territory.” They can be said to have indicated their stance not to accept negotiations premised on Russia’s occupation.

The declaration also described Ukraine’s bid for NATO membership as being on an “irreversible path.”

The communique issued after last year’s NATO summit was limited to stating that an invitation to Ukraine to join the alliance would be extended when “conditions are met.” However, Russian President Vladimir Putin said last month that one of the conditions for a ceasefire was for Ukraine to give up on joining NATO.

NATO’s emphasis on the “irreversible path” in its latest declaration is meant to send a message that the alliance has no intention of following Putin’s call.

The summit declaration further specified that NATO intends to provide Ukraine with more than ¥7 trillion in military assistance next year, the same level as this year. NATO also decided that its member states would be obliged to make a proportional contribution according to their gross domestic product, and that they would report to NATO twice a year on the implementation of their assistance.

NATO decided on this specific support mechanism in an apparent bid to prevent the United States from withdrawing from the framework easily, even if former U.S. President Donald Trump, who has been reluctant to support Ukraine, returns to office as a result of the upcoming U.S. presidential election.

The war situation has been extremely difficult for Ukraine. Last year in the United States, a budget proposal to extend additional aid to Ukraine totaling ¥9 trillion was submitted to Congress, but its passage was delayed until April this year due to a deadlock between Democrats and Republicans.

During this period, the Ukrainian military faced a serious shortage of weapons and ammunition, and Russian forces seized one eastern key area after another. Earlier this month, Kyiv came under a major missile attack in which many children lost their lives at a children’s hospital and elsewhere.

If the situation continues and Russia wins the war, forces that seek to seize territory by force could emerge in various parts of the world in the future. Ensuring that Russia’s aggression ends in failure is more important than anything else.

The transfer of U.S.-made F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine has begun at Kyiv’s request. The Ukrainian military reportedly plans to operate these aircraft from this summer. The focus will be on whether Ukraine can regain control of its domestic airspace.

At the summit, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida announced Japan’s specific measures to support Ukraine, such as the provision of a system to detect attack drones and remote medical equipment. As Japan has restrictions on providing direct arms support, it intends to enhance its civilian assistance.

(From The Yomiuri Shimbun, July 14, 2024)