A massive explosion occurred at Russia's 51st GRAU arsenal in the Vladimir Region on April 22, triggering urgent evacuations across seven nearby towns and villages. Countless photos and videos show the detonation, resulting fires, and sounds of secondary explosions. The warehouse is located 530 km from the Ukrainian border and reportedly houses approximately 105,000 tons of weapons including Iskander, Tochka-U, and Kinzhal missiles, artillery shells of all common calibers, anti-tank guided missiles, anti-aircraft missiles for Osa systems, Pantsir-S1, S-300, and S-400 air defense systems, rockets for Grads, Uragans, and Smerch multiple launch rocket systems, plus various aerial bombs, including both conventional FABs and FABs mounted with the precision-guidance systems (KABs). The arsenal had a total capacity of 264,000 tons of ammunition.

The Russian Ministry of Defense reported the incident as a safety violation while concealing military casualties.

This arsenal is a major logistics hub for troops in multiple combat zones including the Kursk, Belgorod, and Bryansk directions. At least one OSINT researcher has suggested that the initial detonation may have occurred during the unloading of a train at the precise coordinates 56.101466, 38.747292. This is based on geolocating the filming locations of multiple pieces of footage and triangulating it back to the source.

Two civilians were killed when the Russians attacked the village of Petropavlivka in Kharkiv Oblast. The 54-year-old woman and a 26-year-old man were killed in an airstrike. Additionally, several houses were damaged. The type of munition used is not currently known.

The Russians use several drones to strike a logging company in Semenivka hromada in Chernihiv Oblast. The company's building was damaged when the roof caught fire. Timber also caught fire; the fires were extinguished, and no injuries were reported.

Ukrainians received another shipment of equipment from the IT coalition. The shipment was worth approximately €2 million with the funding coming from Luxembourg and Iceland. 288 wireless access points of various models, 500 routers, 460 charging stations with solar panels, and 872 phones were provided. This is the third shipment of equipment from the IT coalition this year totaling an approximate value of €12.8 million.

Ukraine landed successful strikes on a Russian 9A316 transporter-loader and a 9A317 self-propelled launcher. Both are part of a Buk M2 air defense system, both were destroyed. 

Russia has reportedly begun testing a friend or foe identification system for its drones that can operate within a radius of 100 km altitude of 5 km. Each drone will have to have a device mounted onto it that allows ground stations to recognize that it is a friendly drone. The device reportedly weighs no more than 90 grams. Supposedly, the system has already been tested on Geodesy-401 drones used for civilian aerial photography. Ukraine already has such an identification system in operation called UA Drone ID, which is integrated into Ukraine’s DELTA awareness system.

Russian milblogger dosye_shpiona reported a successful attack on an S-400 air defense system:

UAV attack on S-400.

On 11.04.2025, an attack was carried out on hangars where the S-400 Triumph air defense system was located in the village of Sorokin, Kursk region.

The strike was carried out using attack UAVs.

As a result of the impact, the following was damaged:

• Command and staff vehicle "R-149AKSh-1";

• Radar station "96L6-1V" ( fragment damage to phased array );

• 2 launchers "5P85SM2-01";

• 6 anti-aircraft guided missiles "48N6DM";

The complex was evacuated to assess the damage.

On April 22, the Dutch military intelligence organization MIVD said that Russia is increasing its hybrid warfare attack on the Netherlands and other European countries. A spokesman for the intelligence agency said that the attack may come after the end of the war in Ukraine. Also, Russia has been attacking public services in the Netherlands. They said this is the first time that has happened. They’ve also reported on Russian attempts to attack critical infrastructure in the Netherlands, possibly as part of sabotage operations.

In 2024, 15 mines were leased from the Russian government in the occupied territories in the Donbass region. The companies who invested in the minds are trying to return the back to the hands of the Russian government, because they feel mining there would be unprofitable, due to high cost of developing the mines and low global coal prices.

Dmitry Peskov, a spokesman for the Kremlin, Donald Trump is not going to attend the Russian Victory Day parade on May 9. He also stated that the Kremlin is pleased with the Trump administration’s recent statement about Ukraine not being allowed to enter NATO.

Russia attacked a hospital in the city of Kherson with drones. Six people were injured. Four of these people were members of a funeral service, and two were members of the medical staff. Two of them need to be treated in the hospital for their injuries, and the rest can be treated on an outpatient basis. The hospital and ambulance were damaged as well.

On April 22, Russia killed 3 civilians in Myrnograd, Donetsk Oblast. A 72-year-old man was killed, but it is not clear what kind of weapon was used. A Russian drone attacked a civilian vehicle, killing a 63-year-old woman and a 75-year-old man.

Russia launched an airstrike and an attack using drones on the town of Kupyansk in Kharkiv Oblast. Six people were injured, and about 100 houses were damaged. An FPV drone targeted the house of a 75-year-old woman, leaving her injured.

Russia attacked the city of Zaporizhzhia using 2 guided bombs and struck a high-rise building. 33 people were injured and one was scaled. The person who was killed was a 69-year-old woman who could not be resuscitated by doctors at the scene. Two children were injured in the attack: a 14-year-old boy who was in critical condition, and a four-year-old boy who is in moderate condition. People have been taken to the hospital.

Russia launched a major drone attack on the city of Odesa, leaving three people injured. According to the head of Odesa Military Administration, civilian infrastructure, residential buildings, an educational institution, and cars were damaged in the attack. Several fires had broken out.


Putin has said that recent strikes on Sumy were justified. He admitted that civilian targets were struck. He said that the Sumy State University was hosting an award ceremony for Ukrainian soldiers who fought in Kursk. The attack on April 13 killed 35 people and wounded 117 others. 15 children were harmed in this strike.

Putin:

“Russia considers these people criminals who receive the well-deserved punishment for their actions.”

Putin:

“The Armed Forces of Ukraine hold gatherings, meetings, talks in restaurants, celebrate something, and drink horilka. Is this a civilian facility? Yes, it is a civilian facility. But what is its purpose? A military one.”

This is an interesting approach for Putin to take, considering how frequently civilian facilities are use by the Russian military. Military cargo planes routinely fly in and out of the airports around Moscow. Russia's military relies on gas stations and shops close to the front for many of their supplies. His logic would make airports and gas stations legitimate targets for Ukrainian strikes, even if those strikes cause civilian casualties.

The Ukrainian Air Force struck a drone staging area in the Tetkino Sugar Factory on April 19. According to the Ukrainian General Staff, up to 20 drone operators were killed in the attack. An early strike on April 13 also targeted this sugar factory, but hit a different area.

Japan has reached an agreement with Ukraine to provide Ukraine with satellite imagery. Japan’s Institute for Q-shu Pioneers of Space, Kyushu University, will provide Ukraine with synthetic Abshire radar images. The iQPS currently has five satellites in orbit and will have seven in orbit by the end of 2026. Ukraine will begin receiving images in 2 to 3 months.

Additionally, Ukraine has announced plans for producing defense satellites starting in 2026. Ukraine plan to have a full constellation of satellites capable of providing real time information in the 2030-2035 timeframe. 

In the first three months of 2025, Ukraine has imported 127,800 civilian drones. This is worth approximately $371.3 million. This is 39% more than were imported during the same period of time in the year 2024. China is still the largest supplier of civilian drones, amounting to 98% of the total number of drones that have been imported.

Chinese citizens have been illegally smuggling Russian war equipment out of the country and into China so that China can study it and produce cheaper copies. One of the main ways of smuggling equipment to China is by mailing it. In April, Russian law enforcement detained the Chinese man who was mailing Russian military vests in a backpack to China. It previously mailed two 6B45 sets of body armor, military backpacks, and other gear to China. In December of 2024 was arrested for smuggling military equipment. He was found to have body armor, bullet casings, armor plates, and other gear in his possession.

President Zelenskyy stated that he will travel to the Vatican to attend the funeral of Pope Francis.

President Zelenskyy was asked to comment on reports that the US was willing to recognize Crimea as official Russian territory as part of the peace negotiations. 

Zelenskyy:

“Ukraine does not legally recognise Crimea as Russian, it is outside our Constitution. This is our territory, the territory of the people of Ukraine. This will not happen, I think we've declared this in relation to any temporarily occupied territory. And the Constitution of Ukraine declares this.”

The Security Service of Ukraine will provide China with information about Chinese citizens working in Russian drone factories. Ukraine believes that these citizens may have smuggled information and technology from China to Russia.

Ukrainian soldiers operating in the Kupyansk rea captured a group of Russian infantrymen. 

The UK’s ministry of defense release, a statement, saying that Russia's education system is becoming increasingly ideological and openly endorses expansionist and military ideas. Educational materials increasingly contain messaging in support of the war in Ukraine and anti-western rhetoric.


BAE Systems has developed a new way to make ammunition propellants without using traditional ingredients like nitrocellulose and nitroglycerin, finding a way to alleviate global supply shortages.

Ukrainian Air Assault Forces captured nine Russian Marines in the Kursk region, including soldiers from the 810th Guards Naval Infantry Brigade. Despite Russian claims that Ukrainian forces have withdrawn from the area, Ukrainian troops continue fighting there and recently repelled a mechanized assault near Guyevo village, destroying one tank, three APCs, and two golf carts.

Russian troops are now using Chinese-made Type 56-1 assault rifles in combat. Ukrainian soldiers captured one near Toretsk that was still coated in the oil used to preserve it for storage.

France has significantly increased its production of Caesar self-propelled howitzers, with 90% now going to Ukraine. Production has risen from 2 per month to 6 per month, with plans to reach 12 per month by late 2025. France has transferred about 60 Caesars to Ukraine since 2022.

Quote of the Day:

“Hedgehogs are the hunters of the skies, equipped with the most acute eyesight in the animal kingdom.”

— David Attenborough