Did a Ukrainian government official say her country would return the Russian held Northern Territories to Japan if Ukraine wins the war? No, she did not say that: Deputy Prime Minister and Reunification Minister of Ukraine Irina Bereschuk said during an interview that Ukraine supports Japan's territorial integrity and its sovereignty over the northern territories.
The claim appeared on TikTok video (archived here) on April 28th, 2023 with a caption that reads:
If we win, we will convert the Northern Territories to Japan.
This is what the post looked like on TikTok at the time of writing:
(Source: TikTok screenshot taken on Tue May 23 14:56:59 2023 UTC)
The photo shown in the post was taken during an interview by Japan's Sankei News agency at the Ministry of Reintegration in Kyiv on February 27 (Photo by Ryosuke Endo.) The headline of the article reads,
Ukraine's Deputy Prime Minister Condemns Russia's 'Forcible Deportation', Supports Japan in the Northern Territories.
The interview mainly concerned Ukrainian charges that Russia was forcibly deporting Ukrainian citizens from occupied territories to Russia. Near the end of the interview, Bereschuk touched on Japan's Northern Territories issue and confirmed her country's position, saying,
We support Japan's territorial integrity and sovereignty. Russia is an aggressor.
According to Japan's Foreign Ministry, the Northern Territories, consisting of four islands, were occupied by Russia following WWII when Japanese inhabitants were forcibly removed. Diplomatic efforts since then have sought to return Japanese sovereignty to the territories and Japan has called on Russia to conclude a peace treaty contingent on the resolution of this issue.
Furthermore, the map used in the post to show the Northern Territories is also wrong. A map from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan shows the correct location of the Northern Territories lies at the northernmost point of Japan in the Sea of Okhotsk.
