Japan vows $30 million in non-lethal arms supply to Ukraine, $15 billion to tackle inflation

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has pledged to allocate $30 million for the supply of non-lethal equipment to Ukraine.

Kishida made the statement during a joint press conference with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kyiv on March 21, according to the Japanese news agency Kyodo.

The visit was prepared with the observance of information security measures, and Tokyo did not announce the trip.

This is Kishida's first visit to Ukraine since the start of the Russian war. He was the last of the G7 leaders to make such a trip. Kishida is accompanied by the secretary of the Japanese National Security Council Takeo Akiba and Foreign Ministry officials.

In addition, Japan's government has decided on an additional package worth more than 2 trillion yen, or about $15 billion, to cushion the impact of surging prices on households and businesses.

The package was approved at a government taskforce meeting on March 22. It will provide a lump-sum payment of 30,000 yen (about $226), to low-income households. Another 50,000 yen (about $377), will be provided for each child in such households.

The government also plans to cut the fees that households pay from May on top of their power bills for April and following months. These surcharges are collected to promote the use of renewable energy sources.

The assistance package will be used to ease the burden on households that use liquefied petroleum gas and businesses that consume large amounts of power.

The government plans to tap its reserve fund in the current fiscal year's budget to finance the package.