Japanese military hospital to treat wounded Ukrainian service members

A wounded Ukrainian soldier sits on the operation table near Vuhledar, Ukraine, February 19, 2023. (Reuters)

TOKYO (Reuters) -Japan will treat two injured Ukrainian soldiers at a Tokyo hospital run by its military, the Defence Ministry said on Thursday, Tokyo's latest support measure following Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

The Self-Defence Force Central Hospital plans to admit them next month for rehabilitation treatment, the ministry said in a statement, without providing details about the nature of the soldiers' injuries or if the hospital would receive more wounded troops from Ukraine in the future.

This was the first time the hospital has treated foreign soldiers, a senior member of Japan's ruling coalition told Reuters ahead of the official announcement.

The lawmaker, who declined to be named because the deal was not yet public, said related costs would likely be shouldered mostly by the Japanese side.

The development comes just before leaders from Group of Seven (G7) rich nations gather in Hiroshima for a summit meeting from May 19-21, where support for Ukraine and sanctions against Russia are set to be high on the agenda.

(Reporting by Yoshifumi Takemoto, Kiyoshi Takenaka; Editing by Lincoln Feast and Bernadette Baum)