Photo/Illutration Ukrainians arrive at Haneda Airport in Tokyo on April 5 after flying from Poland on a government plane. (Yosuke Fukudome)

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s decision to airlift 20 Ukrainian evacuees from Poland to Japan has been criticized by some as a publicity stunt for both domestic and international audiences.

According to government officials, Kishida was the main proponent of using a government plane to bring the Ukrainians to Tokyo’s Haneda Airport on April 5.

The plane had the Hinomaru flag painted on the tail, a sign the aircraft would normally be used to fly Kishida and other high-ranking government officials to and from foreign destinations.

“Because Japan is limited in providing defense support to Ukraine, the prime minister came up with the measure as one way we could contribute,” a Foreign Ministry source said.

About a week after Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24, Kishida indicated that Japan was prepared to accept Ukrainian evacuees. He made his intention known during a phone call with Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki.

“The decision (to use the government plane) was made before the phone call with the Polish prime minister and based on a proposal made by Japan,” a high-ranking official in the prime minister’s office said. “Poland did not suggest such a measure.”

Some officials in the Kishida administration also said the move was made with an eye on public opinion, given that national polls show between 80 and 90 percent of Japanese are in favor of allowing in Ukrainian evacuees.

One high-ranking administration official admitted that the actual number of Ukrainians who would likely come to Japan was small, but added, “It is important to display a stance of solidarity with the international community.”

A total of 404 Ukrainians with relatives or close acquaintances residing in Japan had already arrived here. They all paid for their travel expenses, even after plane fares increased sharply because of the high demand.

“Almost everyone has already arrived through their own efforts,” a high-ranking Foreign Ministry official said. “There will likely be only a very few who use the government plane.”

Government officials have also not explained what standards were used in selecting the 20 Ukrainians who boarded the plane in Warsaw, citing the need to protect their privacy.

The officials have also said nothing about whether Ukrainian evacuees who wanted to come to Japan were denied in Poland.

Saburo Takizawa, who once headed the Japan branch of the Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), found something positive from Kishida’s special measure, saying it demonstrated that Japan could move flexibly based on a political decision to accept those fleeing conflicts.

“It might allow for breaking down the image both in Japan and abroad that the nation is closed off to refugees,” Takizawa said.

But Shogo Watanabe, who heads the Japan Lawyers Network for Refugees, said the move was a publicity stunt aimed at the international community.

“There appears to be no plan for specific and structured acceptance of the Ukrainians,” Watanabe said.

He said there is a need for the government to squarely deal with the issue of refugee protection.

(Yuichi Nobira contributed to this article.)

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