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Ukraine’s Top General Says Situation ‘Difficult’ around Main Russian Attack

Ukrainian servicemen gather around a pickup truck in Pokrovsk, Ukraine, as they prepare to move into battle, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, August 24, 2024. (Reuters)
Ukrainian servicemen gather around a pickup truck in Pokrovsk, Ukraine, as they prepare to move into battle, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, August 24, 2024. (Reuters)
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Ukraine’s Top General Says Situation ‘Difficult’ around Main Russian Attack

Ukrainian servicemen gather around a pickup truck in Pokrovsk, Ukraine, as they prepare to move into battle, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, August 24, 2024. (Reuters)
Ukrainian servicemen gather around a pickup truck in Pokrovsk, Ukraine, as they prepare to move into battle, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, August 24, 2024. (Reuters)

Ukraine's top commander Oleksandr Syrskyi said on Sunday the situation was "difficult" around Russia's main attack, which is focused in eastern Ukraine, but that all the necessary decisions were being taken.

Syrskyi did not give the exact location of the main Russian offensive, but earlier both he and President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Russian forces were targeting the strategically important city of Pokrovsk.

"The situation is difficult in the direction of the enemy's main attack. But all the necessary decisions at all levels are being made without delay," Syrskyi said on the Telegram messaging app.

Syrskyi said last week he spent several days on the eastern front near Pokrovsk and described fighting there as "exceptionally tough".

Russia, which has captured swathes of eastern Ukraine since launching its full-scale invasion in February 2022, continues to inch forward there in heavy fighting.

The gains have continued since Ukraine launched a surprise incursion into Russia's west Kursk region on Aug. 6, apparently aimed at diverting Russian resources and strengthening Kyiv's position in any future negotiations.

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Japan Protests Chinese Naval Intrusion into Territorial Waters

This handout taken on August 31, 2024 and released on September 1 by Japan's Ministry of Defense Joint Staff Office and received via Jiji Press, shows a Chinese naval survey vessel entering Japanese territorial waters off Yakushima Island in Kagoshima Prefecture. (Photo by Handout / various sources / AFP)
This handout taken on August 31, 2024 and released on September 1 by Japan's Ministry of Defense Joint Staff Office and received via Jiji Press, shows a Chinese naval survey vessel entering Japanese territorial waters off Yakushima Island in Kagoshima Prefecture. (Photo by Handout / various sources / AFP)
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Japan Protests Chinese Naval Intrusion into Territorial Waters

This handout taken on August 31, 2024 and released on September 1 by Japan's Ministry of Defense Joint Staff Office and received via Jiji Press, shows a Chinese naval survey vessel entering Japanese territorial waters off Yakushima Island in Kagoshima Prefecture. (Photo by Handout / various sources / AFP)
This handout taken on August 31, 2024 and released on September 1 by Japan's Ministry of Defense Joint Staff Office and received via Jiji Press, shows a Chinese naval survey vessel entering Japanese territorial waters off Yakushima Island in Kagoshima Prefecture. (Photo by Handout / various sources / AFP)

Japan voiced "strong concern and protest" Saturday after a Chinese naval ship entered its territorial waters, days after Tokyo accused Beijing of sending a military aircraft into Japanese airspace.

A Chinese naval vessel was spotted entering Japanese territorial waters near the southern Kuchinoerabu island at around 6:00 am Saturday (2100 GMT Friday) and exiting southwest of Yakushima island nearly two hours later, the defense ministry said.

Following the incident, the foreign ministry "issued Japan's strong concern and protest" to China's embassy in Tokyo.

The ministry took "into account the past activities of Chinese naval vessels and others in the waters around Japan, and the recent intrusion into Japan´s territorial airspace by a Chinese military plane," it said late Saturday.

Japan on Monday scrambled fighter jets after a two-minute incursion by Chinese Y-9 surveillance aircraft off the Danjo Islands in the East China Sea, which Tokyo slammed as a "serious violation" of its sovereignty.

China's growing economic and military clout in the Asia-Pacific region and its assertiveness in territorial disputes -- most recently with the Philippines -- has rattled the United States and its allies.

Last week, Japan's defense ministry sought 8.5 trillion yen ($59 billion) for the next fiscal year, its largest ever initial budget request, as part of the country's five-year, 43 trillion yen defense buildup plan through March 2028.

The request includes funding for so-called standoff capabilities to strike distant targets with missiles and unmanned vehicles.

It is higher than the ministry's 7.7 trillion yen initial request last year, but smaller than the actual budget of 9.4 trillion yen approved for the current fiscal year.