TOKYO (Reuters) – Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida told Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Friday that Japan will offer emergency humanitarian aid worth about $5 million after the bursting of the Nova Kakhovka dam, a Japanese government spokesperson said.
The two leaders spoke by phone as Russia and Ukraine trade blame for the collapse of the dam, which sent waters cascading across the war zone of southern Ukraine this week, forcing tens of thousands to flee.
Kishida also told Zelenskiy that Japan is ready to host a conference on Ukraine’s reconstruction early next year, according to the official website of the Ukrainian president.
“Many Ukrainian citizens fell victim to the long-running Russian invasion, and civilian facilities including power plants
were damaged,” Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno told a regular news conference following the phone talks.
“This can never be justified, and we strongly condemn this anew.”
(Reporting by Mariko Katsumura, Elaine Lies and Kiyoshi Takenaka; Editing by Toby Chopra and Sharon Singleton)
