Social Awareness: War in Ukraine
Japan and Ukraine have a formal diplomatic relationship. Immediately after the dissolution of the Soviet Union (1988–1991), Japan extended diplomatic recognition to the Ukranian state on the 28th of December in 1991. Full diplomatic relations were established on the 26th of January 1992.
Understanding the Soviet Union
The Bolshevik Revolution on the 7th of November 1917 was instrumental to the Russian Revolution that saw Russia abolish its monarchy and adopt a socialist form of government. Tensions soon escalated between the Bolshevik Red Army and anti-Bolshevik forces. The Bolsheviks emerged victorious leading to the formation of the Soviet Union with the unification of Russia, Transcaucasian, Ukranian, and Byelorussian republics.
“The Bolshevik” by Boris Kustodiev (1878–1927)
The Soviet Union, officially known as the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), was a socialist state that spanned Eurasia during its existence from 1922 to 1991. USSR was a federal union of multiple national republics with a highly centralized government and economy. The country was a one-party state governed by the Communist Party of the Soviet Union with Moscow as its capital in the largest and most populous republic, the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (Russian SFSR). The Russian Republic was composed of sixteen smaller constituent units of autonomous republics, five autonomous oblasts (province), ten autonomous okrugs (districts) , six krais (vast territories located along the periphery of the Russian state), and forty oblasts.
The dissolution of the Soviet Union was an unintended result of General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev’s effort to reform the Soviet political and economic system. In 1991, the three founding and largest republics, Russian SFSR, the Ukrainian SSR, and the Byelorussian SSR declared that the Soviet Union no longer existed and soon, eight more republics joined them.
The invasion of Ukraine
The Russo-Ukrainian War is an ongoing war between Russia, pro-Russian forces, and Belarus on one side and Ukraine and its international supporters on the other. Conflict between the two sides have been ongoing since 2014 such as the war in Donbas, cyber warfare, and naval incidents. Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine on the 24th of February 2022 and is still ongoing.
Japanese-Ukrainian ties
Ukrainian-Japanese relations have become stronger with regular exchanges between the two countries sponsored by groups such as InvestUkraine, the Ukrainian-Japanese center, and the Japan External Trade Organization since 2008. Japan exports steel pipes and automobiles and imports aluminum and food products from Ukraine. The Japanese government also raised the number of workers at the Japanese embassy in Kyiv to learn more about how Ukraine was dealing with the Chernobyl Nuclear Disaster in response to the Fukushima incident.
Japan is considered to be a staunch ally to Ukraine with the Japanese implementing sanctions on Russia following the 2014 Crimean Crisis, offering financial aid and grants in other fields of arts and learning. After the February 2022 Russian invasion, Japan imposed further sanctions on Russia.
Where to donate to help Ukraine:
https://www.savethechildren.org/us/where-we-work/ukraine
https://crisisrelief.un.org/t/ukraine
https://www.unicef.org/emergencies/conflict-ukraine-pose-immediate-threat-children
https://www.obama.org/updates/help-ukraine/
