Yomiuri wrote that the Ministry of Defense announced on Wednesday that it confirmed on Wednesday that four Russian landing ships had passed through the Tsugaru Strait between Honshu and Hokkaido from the Pacific Ocean into the Sea of Japan. The ministry speculated that the ships were transporting troops and combat vehicles from the Kamchatka Peninsula in the Russian Far East to Vladivostok for transshipment to Ukraine by land or air. Asahi, Nikkei, and Sankei ran similar reports, with Asahi saying the MSDF first spotted two Russian tank landing ships about 70 km east-northeast of Shiriyazaki, Aomori Prefecture, at around 8 p.m. on Tuesday, and two others about 220 km east-northeast of Shiriyazaki at around 7 a.m. on Wednesday.