Ukrainian Ambassador Sergiy Korsunsky on the Real Support Japan Can Offer for Reconstruction

Two Nations Growing Closer

Before the invasion, most Japanese probably considered Ukraine as a distant country, but afterward, I feel like people here have experienced a major shift in understanding and thinking toward our country. It might sound like an exaggeration, but as the Japanese people have empathized with the tragedy and disasters of the past three years, I feel that they have opened their hearts to the people of Ukraine, and we seem to have grown closer.

Ambassador Sergiy Korsunsky on January 17, 2025, at the Ukrainian Embassy in Tokyo. (© Shiwa Kōji)

One example is how, whenever I ride trains on business trips or such, people approach me and ask if I am the Ukrainian ambassador. They always offer words of comfort and support. The embassy gets constant inquiries about ways to help not only from the national government, but local governments and people around Japan. Okayama Prefecture, for instance, donated recently replaced fire trucks and ambulances, free of charge. Naturally, they had been meticulously maintained and were still in perfectly good condition. They will be of great help to Ukraine’s emergency services.

Japan has also accepted over 2,700 Ukrainian refugees. Some have already been able to return home, but many are still living with support from local governments and foundations. Private support has been wide and rich, including donations of portable translation equipment and phone SIM cards, as well as Japanese language classes, for example. This tangible and intangible support has helped increase opportunities for Ukrainians to find work, as well.

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The relationship between our two countries is not only about support. Interaction has increased in a variety of ways. When in 2023 the Ukrainian National Folk Dance Ensemble came to Japan and offered public sales of tickets, all of them were quickly sold. There were many other cultural projects. I’m sure this helped boost Japanese people’s interest in Ukrainian culture. In the sports world, young athletes from our country are practicing rhythmic gymnastics at a residential training center in Takasaki, Gunma Prefecture, while others are training in jūdō. We have two Ukrainian sumo wrestlers in the high league of the professional sumo.

Learning from the Rebuilding Experience

The February 2024 Japan-Ukraine Conference for Promotion of Economic Growth and Reconstruction in Tokyo affirmed that Japan’s private and public sectors were united in their support for recovery and restoration in Ukraine. Japan’s contribution is third in scale only to those from the United States and the European Union, and has been of enormous help. That includes government aid, as well as enormous support from hundreds of nongovernmental organizations like the Japanese Red Cross Society.

One invaluable source of reference and guidance in rebuilding Ukraine is Japan’s experience. I published a book in Ukraine in 2023 that took many lessons from case studies in Japan. Japan has extensive experience in rebuilding and recovering after natural disasters, such as the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake thirty years ago, the Kantō Earthquake of 1923, and the Great East Japan Earthquake of 2011, as well as rebuilding the country after World War II. There is no country in the world with a greater understanding of reconstruction work.

Ambassador Korsunsky displays his 2023 book. (© Shiwa Kōji)

When I was writing my book, I paid particular attention to Gotō Shinpei, who helped rebuild Tokyo after it was nearly wiped out in the Great Kantō Earthquake. As director of the Bureau for Reconstruction of the Imperial Capital, he quickly implemented wide-scale urban restructuring, including new arterial streets. You can still see the marks he left on Tokyo’s urban landscape today. In Ukraine, we do not have time for slow restoration. I would like to identify best practices from Japan’s experience, and I believe this is the essentially “Japanese-style” support we need.

Clearing Minefields with Japanese Know-How

According to a February 2024 report from the State Emergency Service of Ukraine, the Russian invasion may have placed landmines across nearly 156,000 square kilometers of our land—more than a fourth of the nation’s total area. Japanese know-how will help in clearing them away.

Japan has been working on clearing landmines in Cambodia for many years and has built considerable experience there. One third of the equipment now being used to clear mines in Ukraine came from Japan. Members of the Ukrainian Special Forces have traveled to Cambodia and Japan several times to train under the supervision of the Japanese specialists. From equipment provision to painstaking instruction in its use, Japan is now a global leader in demining work.

We must first clear our destroyed cities of mines before we begin rebuilding them. Only then can the citizens return to their homes. The Ukrainian people hold out great hopes for Japan’s contributions to those efforts. That is another form of Japanese-style support.

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Unwavering Support

There are reports that the European nations closest to Ukraine are losing interest in our country. On the other hand, Japan—8,000 kilometers away—is experiencing the opposite. As the war drags on longer and longer, nations in the West are beginning to complain of “support fatigue,” while Japan continues to be deeply interested in what is going on in Ukraine.

As talks between our nations go on at various levels, from national and parliamentary levels to the private sector, I can attest that this phenomenon of support fatigue is nowhere to be seen. There are still Japanese people alive who remember that it was the former Soviet Union that broke the Japan-Soviet nonaggression treaty and invaded Japan-held territories. They truly understand what is happening in Ukraine today.

Events in Europe have a direct effect on East Asia and Japan. In the same way, if war broke out in East Asia, it would have an effect on Europe. Last year, Russia and North Korea signed the North Korean–Russian Treaty on Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, effectively a military alliance, and we have seen how North Korea is already joining in on the war in Ukraine.

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Former Prime Minister Kishida Fumio argued, “Today’s Ukraine may be tomorrow’s East Asia.” If Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is successful, it could try the same thing elsewhere in Asia. The Russian navy carried out large-scale tactical drills with Chinese forces last year, and these drills are growing more frequent. What meaning could that carry? And how will North Korea, which is now a nuclear state, act in the future? The situation in Ukraine is directly tied to security in East Asia. To prevent another “Ukraine in East Asia,” Ukraine and Japan must continue to strengthen their cooperation.

(Originally published in Japanese based on an interview by Vyacheslav Onyshchenko and Sumii Kyōsuke of Nippon.com. Banner photo © Shiwa Kōji.)