Japan Sends Bulletproof Vests, Other Equipment to Help Ukraine, Reports Say

TOKYO (Sputnik) - Japan on Wednesday night sent bulletproof vests, helmets, warm clothes, tents and other equipment owned by the Japan Self-defence Forces to assist Ukraine, media reported.

Bulletproof vests, helmets, warm clothes, tents, hygiene products, first strike rations, and generators of the Japanese self-defence forces were loaded into a Boeing KC-767 refuelling and strategic transport aircraft, which is set to deliver the supply to one of the airports in Poland, the Japanese NHK broadcaster reported.

Last Friday, the Security Council of Japan decided to provide Ukraine with bulletproof vests and other items. Earlier this week, Akira Koike, the head of the secretariat and vice chair of the Japanese Communist Party said that the supply of defence materials to Ukraine is a violation of the Three Principles on Arms Exports, which prohibit the delivery of weapons to countries in a state of an armed conflict. The Japanese government believes the supplies of non-lethal aid were not a violation.

On 24 February , Russia began a military operation in Ukraine, responding to calls for help from the breakaway republics of Donetsk and Lugansk in countering the aggression of Ukrainian troops. The Russian Defence Ministry said the special operation is targeting Ukrainian military infrastructure only.

The Three Principles on Arms Exports, drafted by Prime Minister Sato Eisaku in 1967, ban the export of arms to the communist bloc countries, countries subject to arms export embargoes under United Nations Security Council resolutions, and countries involved or likely to be involved in international conflicts.