Japan Temporarily Closes Embassy In Kyiv, Dozens Sign Up For 'International Legion' Volunteers

Illustrations of the invasion of Russia and Ukraine. (Wikimedia Commons / Mvs.gov.ua / Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine)

JAKARTA - Japan announced the temporary closure of its Embassy in Kyiv on Wednesday, as Russia's invasion of Ukraine escalated, forcing civilians to flee.

The embassy's operations will be moved to a temporary liaison office set up in Lviv, western Ukraine, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Kyodo News reported March 2.

The office, which is located near the border with Poland, will continue to provide support to Japanese citizens living in Ukraine, including those trying to flee the country, the ministry said.

The decision to close the embassy on Wednesday was announced after the Russian military said it would attack Ukrainian communications and intelligence sites in Kyiv, warning residents nearby to leave.

On Tuesday, Russian troops opened fire on the main television tower in the Ukrainian capital, killing at least five people.

Since Russia's invasion of Ukraine began last week, the embassy's operations have been reduced. But the Japanese Ambassador to Ukraine, Kuninori Matsuda, and several others remained in Kyiv.

As of February 27, about 120 Japanese nationals were in Ukraine. The Japanese government has asked them to evacuate and secure a charter plane, to transport them from Poland to a third country.

Illustration of Russia's attack on Ukrainian infrastructure in Kyiv. (Wikimedia Commons/Mvs.gov.ua/Міністерство ав аїни)

Meanwhile, on February 28, the government also set up a liaison office in Poland to assist Japanese citizens who wish to leave Ukraine by land.

Separately, Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno on Wednesday called on Japanese nationals to refrain from traveling to Ukraine "regardless of purpose", when asked about the Ukrainian embassy's recruitment of foreign military volunteers in Tokyo.

At regular press conferences, Matsuno stressed that the government had raised the travel alert across Ukraine to the highest level. However, the interest of the citizens of the State of Sakura remains high to volunteer to Ukraine.

Keiichi Kurogi is one of the dozens of men in Japan who volunteered to join the 'international legion' to fight Russian invaders after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy asked for volunteers.

Kurogi, a 39-year-old office worker living in southwestern Japan, told Reuters he called the Ukrainian embassy on Monday after seeing an application for volunteers on Twitter.

"When I saw pictures of old men and women in Ukraine holding guns and going forward, I felt I had to take their place", he said.

Unfortunately, the embassy refuses Kurogi's offer to fight, telling him he doesn't have the necessary military experience.

As of Tuesday, 70 Japanese men, including 50 former members of the Japan Self-Defense Forces and two veterans of the French Foreign Legion, had applied to volunteer, the Mainichi Shimbun newspaper said, citing a Tokyo company that works with volunteers.

A spokesman for the Ukrainian Embassy acknowledged receiving calls from people who 'wanted to fight for Ukraine' but declined to provide further details.

Illustration of the impact of the Russian military attack. (Wikimedia Commons/Vasyatka1)

A February 28 social media post from the embassy thanking Japanese citizens for their many questions about volunteering but adding conditions.

"Each candidate for this must have experience in the Japan Self-Defense Forces or have undergone special training", the embassy said.

In a new post on Twitter on Wednesday, the Ukrainian embassy in Japan said it was looking for volunteers with medical, IT, communications, or firefighting experience. It was not immediately clear whether the volunteer position was remote or involved in the trip to Ukraine.

"Japan's foreign ministry has issued an evacuation warning for all of Ukraine and we want people to stop all travel to Ukraine, regardless of the purpose of their visit", Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno told a news conference.

"We communicated with the Ukrainian embassy in Japan and indicated that evacuation advice was in place."

The war in Ukraine has stirred strong emotions in Japan, which has a post-war pacifist constitution that has been reinterpreted in recent years to allow Japan only to engage in collective self-defense or aid an ally that is under attack.

To note, hundreds of people gathered to protest last week's Russian invasion of Tokyo, while the Ukrainian embassy said it had collected $17 million in donations from about 60,000 people in Japan after filing online requests for help.

As for Kurogi, he insisted that he would volunteer again if Ukraine changed its terms.

"I'm from a generation that doesn't know war at all. It's not that I want to go to war, I'd rather go than see children being forced to carry weapons", he said.