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Japan's PM Kishida Plans US Visit in Late September

Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida leaves at the end of a press conference at the prime minister's office in Tokyo on August 14, 2024. Kishida confirmed on August 14 that he will not seek re-election as head of his party next month, meaning the end of his premiership. PHILIP FONG/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights
Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida leaves at the end of a press conference at the prime minister's office in Tokyo on August 14, 2024. Kishida confirmed on August 14 that he will not seek re-election as head of his party next month, meaning the end of his premiership. PHILIP FONG/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights
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Japan's PM Kishida Plans US Visit in Late September

Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida leaves at the end of a press conference at the prime minister's office in Tokyo on August 14, 2024. Kishida confirmed on August 14 that he will not seek re-election as head of his party next month, meaning the end of his premiership. PHILIP FONG/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights
Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida leaves at the end of a press conference at the prime minister's office in Tokyo on August 14, 2024. Kishida confirmed on August 14 that he will not seek re-election as head of his party next month, meaning the end of his premiership. PHILIP FONG/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights

Outgoing Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida is finalizing plans to visit the US in late September for the UN General Assembly and a possible meeting with President Joe Biden, the Yomiuri newspaper reported on Saturday.

The visit may take place for several days starting on Sept. 22, the report said, citing multiple government sources it did not identify.

The Japanese Foreign Ministry, in response to a request for comment from Reuters, said "nothing has been decided yet".

Kishida on Wednesday dropped out of the leadership race for the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, meaning he will step down as prime minister when his term as party leader ends in late September.

The date of the LDP election is not yet set. It could be as early as Sept. 20, in which case Kishida would likely address the General Assembly after Japan's parliament, where the LDP has a majority, has chosen his replacement as prime minister, according to the Yomiuri.

Some in the Japanese government think it best if Kishida's successor does not develop close ties with Biden, who is due to leave office in January, the newspaper said.

Biden, who dropped out of November's US presidential election, was replaced as the Democratic Party nominee last month by Vice President Kamala Harris. She faces the Republican candidate, former President Donald Trump.

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Russia: Ukraine Used Western Rockets to Destroy Bridge

This photograph taken on 16 August, 2024, during a media tour organized by Ukraine, shows a destroyed border crossing point near the Ukrainian-controlled Russian town of Sudzha, Kursk region, amid the Russian invasion in Ukraine. (Photo by Yan DOBRONOSOV / AFP)
This photograph taken on 16 August, 2024, during a media tour organized by Ukraine, shows a destroyed border crossing point near the Ukrainian-controlled Russian town of Sudzha, Kursk region, amid the Russian invasion in Ukraine. (Photo by Yan DOBRONOSOV / AFP)
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Russia: Ukraine Used Western Rockets to Destroy Bridge

This photograph taken on 16 August, 2024, during a media tour organized by Ukraine, shows a destroyed border crossing point near the Ukrainian-controlled Russian town of Sudzha, Kursk region, amid the Russian invasion in Ukraine. (Photo by Yan DOBRONOSOV / AFP)
This photograph taken on 16 August, 2024, during a media tour organized by Ukraine, shows a destroyed border crossing point near the Ukrainian-controlled Russian town of Sudzha, Kursk region, amid the Russian invasion in Ukraine. (Photo by Yan DOBRONOSOV / AFP)

Russia's foreign ministry said Ukraine had used Western rockets, likely US-made HIMARS, to destroy a bridge over the Seym river in the Kursk region, killing volunteers trying to evacuate civilians.
"For the first time, the Kursk region was hit by Western-made rocket launchers, probably American HIMARS," Maria Zakharova, spokeswoman for the Russian foreign ministry, said late on Friday on the Telegram messaging app.
"As a result of the attack on the bridge over the Seym River in the Glushkovo district, it was completely destroyed, and volunteers who were assisting the evacuated civilian population were killed."
Ukrainian army chief Oleksandr Syrskyi said on Friday that Kyiv's forces were advancing between 1 and 3 kilometers (0.6 to 1.9 miles) in some areas in the Kursk region, 11 days since beginning an incursion into Russia.
Kyiv has claimed to have taken control of 82 settlements over an area of 1,150 square kilometers (440 square miles) in the region since Aug. 6.
Reuters could not independently verify either side's battlefield accounts.
Russia has accused the West of supporting and encouraging Ukraine's first ground offensive on Russian territory and said Kyiv's "terrorist invasion" would not change the course of the war.
The United States, which has said it cannot allow Russian President Vladimir Putin to win the war he launched in February 2022, so far deems the surprise incursion a protective move that justifies the use of US weaponry, officials in Washington said.