Japan's Kishida Coordinates Phone Talk with Zelensky on 9th to Discuss "Dam Collapse Support"

Japanese Government Reiterates Solidarity with Ukraine
Discusses Humanitarian Aid Measures for Ukraine
At Least 5 Dead in Dam Collapse

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida is reportedly coordinating a schedule to hold a phone conversation with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on the afternoon of the 9th, according to the Nihon Keizai Shimbun.

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy are shaking hands during their meeting in Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine, last March.
[Image source=Reuters Yonhap News]

According to reports, Prime Minister Kishida is expected to express the Japanese government's intention to provide humanitarian aid to Ukraine in relation to the collapse of the Kakhovka Dam in Ukraine.

Public broadcaster NHK stated, "Prime Minister Kishida is expected to convey his strong support for Ukraine while Russia's invasion continues."

Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno, the Japanese government spokesperson, also held a press conference on the same day, saying, "We are discussing ways to support residents affected by the flooding caused by the dam collapse," and "We repeatedly express our solidarity with the Ukrainian people."

Earlier, on the 6th, the Kakhovka Dam located on the Dnipro River in the southern Kherson region of Ukraine, which is occupied by Russia, collapsed, causing villages in the area to be submerged.

Major foreign media reported that at least five people died and 41 were injured in the incident. According to Russia's state-run RIA Novosti, the explosion of the Kakhovka Dam put 22,000 residents living in 14 villages in the Kherson region at risk of flooding. Ukrainian authorities stated that 16,000 people are in the "danger zone."

The Kakhovka Dam, built in 1956 during the Soviet era, is a facility 30 meters high and 3.2 kilometers long, supplying water to southern Ukraine through the North Crimean Canal and the Dnipro-Kryvyi Rih Canal. About 110 kilometers north of the Kakhovka Dam, upstream on the Dnipro River, is the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, the largest nuclear power plant in Europe. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) told Russia's TASS news agency that there is "no immediate radiation risk" due to the aftermath of the dam's destruction.

Russia has accused Ukraine of being behind the dam's destruction, but the European Union (EU) and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) have attributed the incident to Russia.