On 27 January 1904, the Russo-Japanese War began. The Japanese command began hostilities on Sakhalin by cutting off the only route connecting the island with the mainland, thus Japanese forces were able to cut off and encircle the Russian troops. On 17 July 1905, the military governor and chief of the forces of Sakhalin Island, Lieutenant General Lyapunov, through a representative, sent a message to the commander of the Japanese expeditionary forces, Lieutenant General Haraguchi Kensai: "Your Excellency! The lack of medicines and dressings and, as a result, the lack of the possibility of rendering assistance to the wounded, forced me to propose to Your Excellency to cease hostilities for purely humane reasons." In response, General Haraguchi demanded that General Lyapunov surrender all weapons and all movable and immovable state property that were intact, as well as the surrender of all maps, documents, papers related to the military department and administration.