TOKYO (Reuters) – Japan’s military said on Thursday it had spotted four large Russian amphibious warships sailing near its islands as they headed west, possibly toward Europe.
Pictures of amphibious transports, usually used to land reconnaissance troops on shore, released by the Japanese Ministry of Defense showed what appeared to be military trucks loaded on the deck of one of the ships.
“We do not know where they are heading but their address indicates that it is possible,” a Japanese Defense Ministry spokesman said, and in response to a question if it was possible for them to head to Ukraine, he said, “It is possible.”
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The Russian ships, which can carry dozens of tanks and other military vehicles and hundreds of troops, for the first time discovered and monitored their passage west from the Pacific Ocean to the Sea of ​​Japan through the narrow Tsuruga Strait, a Japanese Self-Defense Force naval patrol for the first time discovered. Japan’s main island of Honshu separated from Hokkaido on Wednesday.
The military spokesman said it was unusual for Russian ships to pass through the strait near Japanese territory.
Armed with anti-tank weapons supplied by the United States and other countries, Ukrainian fighters inflicted heavy losses on Russian armor and fuel trucks, which means that Moscow, describing its offensive as a “special operation”, may need to reinforce its forces with new cannons. equipment.
NATO allies, who have already provided 20,000 anti-tank and other weapons to Ukraine, said on Wednesday that they would continue to help the country resist the Russian offensive.
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(Reporting by Tim Kelly) Editing by Simon Cameron Moore
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