Japan has decided to "experimentally" purchase Ukrainian drones.

According to news from Japan on October 2, former Japanese Defense Minister Itsunori Onodera, who visited Ukraine's capital Kyiv, revealed on the 1st that the Japanese government has "decided to make a trial purchase" of drones from Ukraine's "Skyfall" company.

Onodera stated that while assessing the performance of the drones, he hopes to explore what kind of cooperation can be developed between Japan and Ukraine in the future.

Reports indicate that the Japanese government believes that the drones manufactured in Ukraine have been repeatedly improved based on combat experience, resulting in high performance. Additionally, Japan is also exploring the introduction of Ukrainian-manufactured drones into the Self-Defense Forces.

On October 1, Onodera held talks in Kyiv with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov to discuss issues related to defense cooperation between the two countries. After the talks, Onodera stated that the Ukrainian side hopes that Japan will provide assistance in the development of technology for intercepting drones.

Recently, several Japanese political figures have visited Ukraine. Some analysts believe that Japan's actions aim to pave the way for its own military development by leveraging external conflicts, marking a further breach of Japan's longstanding principle of not exporting military equipment to warring nations. Relying on external wars to stimulate the domestic military industry and seeking combat capabilities will ultimately only lead to a continued deterioration of Japan's own security environment.