Looks like russia really needs pilots as Trevor Reed freed in prisoner swap.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/russia-releases-us-marine-vet-113929166.html

Or what was the real deal as UKR intelligence would ask?

two big days for Mil Air in Europe yesterday 315 today 415.

Notables
Forte 10 in the Black sea looping, not far from Moskva sink site.
UK SIGINT RC135 all over the Black Sea.
Given those two above I suspect F35s all over the Black Sea as well.

https://globe.adsbexchange.com/?icao=ae5421

Lukashenko has not yet approved the law but if it comes to pass, it could also threaten Belarusian opposition

In March 2021, Belarus launched a criminal probe on opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya on "terrorism" charges

— Samuel Ramani (@SamRamani2) April 27, 2022

UPDATE

Putin: "If anyone decides to meddle in ongoing events and create unacceptable strategic threats for Russia, they must know our response will be lightning-quick.

"We have all the instruments for this, ones nobody else can boast of. And we will use them, if we have to." pic.twitter.com/1D8Q48p0Ui

— max seddon (@maxseddon) April 27, 2022

"The countries that have historically tried to contain Russia don't need a self-sufficient, massive country such as ours. They think that it is dangerous to them just by means of its existence. But that's far from the truth. They are the ones threatening the whole world." pic.twitter.com/Q9b12zATGY

— max seddon (@maxseddon) April 27, 2022

Russia helps Europe to make the hard decisions. Oil and gas embargo, Sweden and Finland in NATO, reinforced eastern border. https://t.co/xVVLn7RxC3

— Anders Östlund (@andersostlund) April 27, 2022

Antonio Guterres's office said that Vladimir Putin was open to a Red Cross and UN backed evacuation of civilians from Azovstal steel. Despite this, Russia is still bent on a military solution. pic.twitter.com/JlhaldJ1LW

— Samuel Ramani (@SamRamani2) April 27, 2022

Joes said:

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CondensedFoggyAggie said:

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MeatDr said:

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Russian Air Defenses reportedly Intercepted something over the City of Voronezh which is over 100 miles into Russian Territory from the Ukrainian Border, if Ukraine is launching Attacks this deep into Russia, the Russian Populous is going to freak out. https://t.co/SSMfY872iN pic.twitter.com/6aWHll5jFA

— OSINTdefender (@sentdefender) April 27, 2022

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It still boggles my mind that two modern armies are hurling cruise missiles and heavy armor at each other in 2022. That being said, Slava Ukraini.

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I see this sentiment all the time and don't understand it. What the heck does the year have to do with it? Are you suggesting that you thought humans had evolved into something different in the last 100 years? Human nature doesn't change, and it won't. If we're still here then we'll have large scale warfare 100 years from now and 1000 years from now. There's nothing special about this year just because we're living in it.

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I'm still getting my head around this as well, some thoughts:
- Assange's comments that citizens don't want war, and must be "tricked" - this is getting harder to do with social media. This was posted here, great watch.
- The political fallout that is accompanied with war, as well as huge cost and expense
- Russia can't even manage their own country, much less take on additional countries
- The people that you "rule" will smile to your face and stab you in the back. Will constantly undermine you at every chance they get. "Ruling" is a huge cost.
- Globalization has improved quality of life for many, but now will be reversed. Germany will pay more for Russian energy alternatives and will enter decline, Russia will make less, etc.
- The Russian educated mid/upper class is fleeing en masse, which leads to further problems with economy, brain drain, etc.

Wars to redraw lines on a map are now monumentally stupid, and world citizens will pay the bill in $ and lives to subsidize a leader's idea of "greatness". Hopefully this lesson is learned by the world from this war.

As in school, business, etc... a few bad actors ruin for the many.

Archpriest Artemy Vladimirov is reading a sermon on the Z-war and its goals. That sermon doesn't necessarily represent the position of the Kremlin but probably reflects the feelings of the Russian nationalist masses and, broadly speaking, the Russian imperialist ideology pic.twitter.com/TbtR1FHggx

— Kamil Galeev (@kamilkazani) April 27, 2022

The Transnistrian Interior Ministry has “Confirmed” the reports of the Attack on the Ammunition Depot in the town of Cobasna, they are also Claiming that the Attack was conducted by Ukrainian Forces. https://t.co/I4c67PW464

— OSINTdefender (@sentdefender) April 27, 2022

Thanks to 'ticus, former military and other contributors here, it has been a fascinating ride. I would imagine we have supplied the Ukes with all the best little night time toys to do severe damage to the russians. Initially I would have thought that night time would be dying time but based on the russian morale, archaic equipment, complete lack of new playbook, and smoking of field leadership, night time should be major killing time for the Ukes. Will be huge lessons learned when military experts dissect this through the coming years.

Recently, the K2 unit of the Armed Forces of Ukraine heroically repulsed a tank attack near Donetsk, using everything at hand, from RPGs to NLAWs.

hromadske visited the failed Russian tank attack site and saw the wrecked and abandoned tanks. https://t.co/sQLmxnWQW2

— Hromadske Int. (@Hromadske) April 27, 2022

***UPDATE***

Bridge south of #Odesa, Ukraine, reportedly hit by #Russian forces. Although damaged (per photos), satellite image from few hours ago shows it is not severed

Attacking this bridge *may* be relevant if moves are made around Transnistria#OSINT #OSINTUkraine pic.twitter.com/wEJZKjEdow

— H I Sutton (@CovertShores) April 27, 2022

https://t.co/fm7wP7EkxV

— Crispin Burke (@CrispinBurke) April 27, 2022

Just a bit of this article:

Quote:

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A close adviser to President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine said that the assaults inside Russia near Ukraine's eastern border were payback against launching pads for the invasion, but he stopped short of saying the Ukrainian military was responsible, attributing the attacks to "karma" instead.

In Russia, three governors confirmed that their regions had been targeted. An ammunition depot was set on fire near Belgorod, a city less than 20 miles from the border. Two explosions were reported in Voronezh, nearly 200 miles from Ukraine, and a Ukrainian drone was reportedly shot down over Kursk, about 70 miles from the border.

The attacks in Kursk and Voronezh, where air-defense systems were reportedly activated, raised the specter of a wider war, as they were farther inside Russia than previous targets.

Ukraine's defense ministry has generally declined to discuss reports of attacks on Russian soil. In two months of war, the fighting has largely been contained within Ukraine's borders, though Russia claims that two Ukrainian helicopters fired on an oil depot in Belgorod in early April.

Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to Mr. Zelensky and a member of the Ukrainian delegation to the stalled peace talks, wrote in Russian on his channel on the Telegram chat app that warehouses in regions like Belgorod and Voronezh were being used to supply fuel for armed vehicles in Ukraine. Disarming them, he wrote was "a very natural process," adding, "Karma is a cruel thing."

"If you (Russians) decided to attack another country in its entirety, to kill everyone there indiscriminately, to crush civilians with tanks and use warehouses in your regions to provide for your killings, then sooner or later you will have to pay the debt," Mr. Podolyak wrote.

In Belgorod, where the ammunition depot caught fire, no homes were damaged and there were no civilian casualties, the governor, Vyacheslav Gladkov, wrote on his Telegram channel.

Roman Starovoit, the regional governor for Kursk also used his Telegram channel to announce that a Ukrainian drone was shot down over the city, but that there was no damage and no casualties.

The governor of Voronezh, Alexander Gusev, made a similar announcement, saying that air defenses had successfully detected and destroyed a small reconnaissance drone, without specifying whether it was Ukrainian. The official TASS news agency reported that two "loud blasts" were heard in Voronezh.

In Moscow, Nikolai Patrushev, the secretary for President Vladimir V. Putin's security council, urged officials from across a wide swath of the southwestern region near Ukraine to make sure the systems to issue emergency alerts for the civilian population as well as civil defense facilities were "working reliably."

Bomb shelters and other physical infrastructure should remain under the control of federal officials and not be sold off, he said.

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🇬🇧🇺🇦Great Britain plans to transfer to Ukraine in the next few weeks (until May 10) modern Brimstone missiles.

This was stated by Deputy Minister of Defense of Great Britain James Hippie. pic.twitter.com/KgaGyK3TM0

— The RAGE X (@theragex) April 27, 2022

#UPDATE The EU said Wednesday it was "prepared" for Moscow to suspend gas supplies to the 27-nation bloc and is planning a "coordinated" response after Russia's Gazprom turned off the taps to Poland and Bulgaria pic.twitter.com/yPPDZkU5tg

— AFP News Agency (@AFP) April 27, 2022

Ukrainian defence ministry says Russian forces have taken the northeastern outskirts of Velyka Komyshuvakha, which is connected by road to their main target at Barvinkove. The “jaws” around Ukraine-controlled Donbas are widening, but not closing. pic.twitter.com/RZvjSuW7tl

— Leonid Ragozin (@leonidragozin) April 27, 2022

Russian MoD video showing a salvo of Kalibr cruise missiles launched by a Project 11356-class frigate in the Black Sea at Ukraine.https://t.co/WDsTqJAY3L pic.twitter.com/1wOveHooQb

— Rob Lee (@RALee85) April 27, 2022

These are some pics from the grunt Company. More from the other units later. They are dirty, smelly, and in the schizzle every day... right where grunts should be. In the 2nd pic, they just overran a Russian unit. We took out the gory stuff, but they captured all the Russian gear

— LtCol Rip Rawlings (@RipRawlings) April 27, 2022

Western official: "Even when the Russians take a village or town the Ukrainians frequently counter attack immediately. So Russians have no time to bed down or control the situation. And they're immediately on the back foot again."

— Shashank Joshi (@shashj) April 27, 2022

Western official on how the weather is affecting Russian ops: "what we are seeing in practice [is] they are not advancing in in heavy rain. It's also surprising [that] they have the ability to operate off the roads, and have done since the start of conflict, but chose not to"

— Shashank Joshi (@shashj) April 27, 2022

Recently, the people of #Transnistria began to receive SMS (on behalf of #Ukraine) with the information that Ukraine will strike at the cities of the pseudo-country.
Ukraine hasn't sent such text messages and has no plans to attack Transnistria. pic.twitter.com/ItrnzlfJyC

— Inna Sovsun (@InnaSovsun) April 26, 2022

Let me remind you that a week ago the Russian leadership stated that #Russia want to go to #Transnistria because there are violate the rights of Russian-speaking people.
And now they are trying to accuse #Ukraine of attack...
Are you serious, guys?

— Inna Sovsun (@InnaSovsun) April 26, 2022

Translation of "Warning" sent "from Ukraine".

"Hello, dear residents of the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic! The Security Service of Ukraine strongly recommends that the civilian population be evacuated to safer regions. We assure you that the Armed Forces of Ukraine do not wish harm to civilians, however, the people remaining in the cities will be perceived as sabotage groups and will be liquidated without warning. The Armed Forces of Ukraine provide civilians with time to evacuate - until 19:00 local time. Exactly at 19:00, rocket and artillery shelling of military facilities on the territory of the republic will be carried out. You have been warned. Glory to Ukraine! Glory to the [Armed Forces of Ukraine]!"

Australia kicking in more equipment.

Rossticus said:

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Western official on how the weather is affecting Russian ops: "what we are seeing in practice [is] they are not advancing in in heavy rain. It's also surprising [that] they have the ability to operate off the roads, and have done since the start of conflict, but chose not to"

— Shashank Joshi (@shashj) April 27, 2022

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i think the weather (time of the year when the land is soft) and condition of the countryside is why the Russians were stuck to using roads. Add that to the long list of tactical mistakes.