Japan's Prime Minister Kishida Fumio arrived in Ukraine's capital Kyiv on Tuesday for talks with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. It is his first trip to the country since the start of Russia's invasion.

Kishida had been visiting India. Instead of heading back to Japan, he flew to Poland and took a train to Kyiv from a town near the Ukrainian border.

Kishida is expected to tell Zelenskyy that as this year's chair of the Group of Seven, Japan will seek international unity to impose tough sanctions on Russia.

The Japanese leader is set to chair the G7 summit in Hiroshima in May.

Kishida is also likely to say that Japan will continue providing maximum support to Ukraine, focusing on reconstruction and humanitarian assistance.

Japan has offered 1.5 billion dollars of aid to Ukraine and its neighbors that are accepting evacuees.

Since the end of World War Two, a Japanese prime minister has never visited a country or territory where combat was taking place.

Kishida is following in the footsteps of other G7 leaders including US President Joe Biden, who visited Ukraine last month.

Zelenskyy invited the prime minister when they talked by phone in January.