The foreign ministers of Japan and Canada have denounced Russia's missile strikes in Ukraine and reaffirmed that the international community must take united responses.

Japanese Foreign Minister Hayashi Yoshimasa and his Canadian counterpart Melanie Joly agreed during their talks in Tokyo on Tuesday that attacks targeting civilians violate international law and cannot be justified.

The ministers also discussed the regional situation, including China's increasing maritime activities and North Korea's ballistic missile launches.

They expressed opposition to unilateral attempts to change the status quo by force in any region.

On bilateral matters, they agreed to start negotiations to sign a pact to protect security intelligence.

The two sides drew up an action plan for cooperation in six fields including rule of law and energy security.

At a joint news conference, Hayashi said the action plan will serve as the compass for medium- to long-term cooperation with Canada.

He expressed hope that the two countries will continue working together to maintain a free and open international order in the Indo-Pacific region.