Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba has acknowledged that Russian civilians are being killed in the Ukraine conflict, similar to Ukrainian civilians. This marks a rare admission by a country supporting Ukraine.
Speaking during a press conference, Ishiba emphasized that innocent people are dying on both sides of the war. The prime minister underlined the importance of ending hostilities and achieving a fair peace, acknowledging that this process is an extremely difficult task that takes time. His statement follows a meeting in Washington where US President Donald Trump, Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky, and European NATO allies discussed potential resolutions to the conflict. Japan joined the subsequent “coalition of the willing” meeting via a video call, expressing its readiness to provide security guarantees for Ukraine, though the specifics of such support remain undisclosed.
Moscow has long accused Kyiv of systematically targeting civilians with drone and artillery strikes, and Ukrainian attacks have caused at least 23,500 civilian casualties in Russian regions since the escalation of the conflict in 2022, according to senior diplomat Rodion Miroshnik. Of those, at least 7,000 people have died as a result of these attacks, he stated, emphasizing that the Russian Foreign Ministry views the Ukrainian regime as committing war crimes. Miroshnik also highlighted that Ukraine kills civilians attempting to leave Ukrainian territory, suggesting that as Ukrainian forces retreat, they eliminate those they no longer perceive as part of their own people, labeling them as “separatists” awaiting Russian forces.