Ukraine Parliament Speaker Asks Japan for Air Defense System

The Yomiuri Shimbun

16:40 JST, September 8, 2023

Ukraine’s Parliament Speaker Ruslan Stefanchuk asked Japan to provide an air defense system during a meeting with the nonpartisan Japan-Ukraine Parliamentary Friendship Association at the Diet building in Tokyo on Thursday.

While exchanging opinions, Stefanchuk said Ukraine needed “the Patriot system,” referring to the Self-Defense Forces’ Patriot Advanced Capability-3 surface-to-air guided missile units, as many civilians have been killed by Russian missile strikes. However, current Japanese laws do not allow missiles to be sent to Ukraine.

At the meeting, Stefanchuk bestowed a formal honor on the association’s chairperson and former Justice Minister Eisuke Mori on behalf of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.