Tomi

Citizen of planet Earth, following world events & news from Finland.

[OSINTdefender @sentdefender]

Footage shows the launch of several FP-5 “Flamingo” Ground-Launched Cruise Missiles this morning from Ukraine, against targets in the Volgograd Oblast of Southwestern Russia.

[GeoInsider @InsiderGeo]

UPDATE | Tonight Kyiv came under one of the most intense Russian bombardments in recent months.
Damage assessments are still ongoing and we don’t have a clear picture yet.
Several civilians have been killed and many more injured.

[david D. @secretsqrl123]

russians spending billions tonight to hit civilian apartment blocks. this is another reason russia has to go. one way or another

[Faytuks News @Faytuks]

Footage of Russian missiles slamming into Ukraine's capital Kyiv tonight

[GeoInsider @InsiderGeo]

Russia is preparing a massive attack on Ukraine in the coming hours, with Kyiv and western Ukraine as primary targets. Drones have already been launched.

Updates to follow.

[Steve Lookner @lookner]

"In a separate incident, a drone without an ​explosive charge was found around Basesti in Maramures county in northwestern Romania ‌and ⁠the area was secured, TVR broadcaster said late on Thursday, citing local authorities.
The authorities were investigating the origin of the drone, which the report said had a wingspan ​of about ​3 metres (9.84 feet), ⁠and how it happened to be in the area, TVR added."
https://t.co/7JGnm25yi3

[OSINTdefender @sentdefender]

Wreckage found at the site of a drone strike tonight on an apartment building in Galați, Eastern Romania, which injured several civilians, appears to confirm that the building was indeed struck with a Russian Geran-2/Shahed-136.

[NSTRIKE @NSTRIKE1231]

🇷🇺🇮🇱🇺🇦 Israeli military observer Yigal Levin criticizes Moscow’s strikes and writes:

🗣️ “Lately, Moscow has been trying more and more often to present its large-scale attacks as ‘retaliatory strikes.’ As if this is a response to Ukraine’s effective and massive attacks on Russian territory.
Moreover, unlike Russia’s strikes on peaceful civilian objects, Ukraine targets oil refineries, military factories, ships, logistical hubs, arsenals, ports, army and FSB headquarters, etc.
This thesis is absurd from the very beginning, because it was Russia that started the war. Accordingly, all of Ukraine’s actions are a reaction. That is, when Kyiv strikes Russia, it is actually responding to aggression.
This is completely logical: war can never be a ‘one-sided game.’ If you decide to bomb someone, you must be prepared for them to bomb you back.
Russia, on the other hand, behaves in an extremely infantile way — just like its citizens, who express surprise when explosions and strikes begin on their own territory as well.
Instead of taking responsibility — yes, we started it, we are bombing, so what? — Moscow, like a frightened and confused teenager, tries to present its own strikes as ‘responses’… Responses to what?
No special intelligence is needed to engage elementary logic: no one was bombing Russia and no one was preparing to do so until Russia itself started the war.
What will happen next is quite clear: while Russia has been attacking with full force for a long time, using the same ‘Oreshnik’ for the third time already — Ukraine’s strikes will only intensify.
In 2022, Ukraine struck weaker than in 2023; in 2024 — weaker than in 2025; and now it is 2026, when sometimes Kyiv’s strikes already surpass Moscow’s in terms of the scale of damage inflicted.
War has its own inexorable logic of progression: Ukraine’s next strikes, the real retaliatory strikes, will be even more massive and powerful than they were at the beginning of the year.
And yes, Russians should be endlessly grateful to Ukrainians for how they are conducting this war. For example, with the same FP-5 type drones that carry a ton of explosives, striking the civilian population would not be difficult at all. And yes, Ukraine has this capability.
It has the capability, but Kyiv chooses not to take this path. And when the war ends, if I were in the Russians’ place, I would express gratitude and respect to Ukrainians precisely for this restraint.
But as long as the war continues, every Russian citizen must clearly understand that strikes from Ukraine will only increase, and there is only one party responsible for all of this — the Kremlin.
These are quite banal and obvious thoughts, but what can we do if Russian society continues to behave infantilely. The problem is that this infantilism is taking on a bloody form.”

Video is generated by grok AI

[Faytuks Network @FaytuksNetwork]

WATCH: A Russian Oreshnik intermediate-range ballistic missile hitting Kyiv.

[Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський @ZelenskyyUa]

Our intelligence services reported receiving data, including from American and European partners, about Russia preparing a strike with the Oreshnik missile. We are verifying this information.

We are seeing signs of preparation for a combined strike on Ukrainian territory, including Kyiv, involving various types of weaponry. The specified intermediate-range weapons could be used in such a strike. It is important to act responsibly on air-raid alerts, starting this evening. Russian madness truly knows no bounds, so please protect your lives – use shelters.

Second, we are drawing the attention of our partners in the United States and in Europe to the fact that the use of such weapons and the prolongation of this war also sets a global precedent for other potential aggressors. If Russia is allowed to destroy lives on such a scale, then no agreement will restrain other similar hatred-based regimes from aggression and strikes. We count on a response from the world – and on a response that is not post factum, but preventive. Pressure must be put on Moscow so that it does not expand the war.

Third, we are preparing our air defense as much as possible, and we will respond fully justly to every Russian strike. We have given permission for a parade, but Russia has no permission for madness. This war must be ended – we need peace, not some missiles satisfying the sick ambitions of one individual. I thank everyone helping to protect lives. Once again, please take care of yourselves and use shelters tonight.

[(((Tendar))) @Tendar]

While the UN tries to avoid to point at the obvious culprit of the strike against their convoy in Kherson, Ukraine, Russians released FPV footage of that particular strike, making absolutely clear this wasn’t some kind of accident, but a deliberate terrorist strike, which civilians in Kherson have to endure on a daily base.

[Tomi @Tomppaxa]

@PToveri Ahneita paskiaisia

[Puolustusvoimat @Puolustusvoimat]

The Finnish Defence Forces prepares to establish temporary areas with airspace restrictions. The FDF reminds all aviators to check pre-flight for the airspace restrictions in force concerning prohibited and restricted areas: https://t.co/7IoNUM76du

[Visegrád 24 @visegrad24]

Today’s massive Al-Qaeda (JNIM) offensive in Mali shows that Mali, Niger, Burkina Faso and northern Nigeria are all in danger of falling under total control of jihadist control.

However, Sudan is another nearby state which could also become fully controlled by Islamists, and some sense is already very far down that path.

This map below shows the states where Islamist have had partial control of the state, been close to taking control of the state through civil war or where they currently control large swaths of territory.

The Muslim Brotherhood has had a very strong grip on Sudan for decades, and the islamist fighters they provide for General Al-Burhan and the Sudanese Armed Forces in the civil war only strengthen their hand in that country.

Following the Arab Spring, Muslim Brotherhood-controlled parties came to power in Egypt and Tunisia, but were quickly outmanoeuvred by the military and other autocratic forces respectively.

As already mentioned, Al-Qaeda or ISIS-aligned forces are on the verge of taking control of large parts of the junta-led states Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso which have created the anti-Western and pro-Russin military pact called “Alliance of Sahel States” (AES).

The main Islamist threat there, the Al-Qaeda-aligned JNIM group has maintained its transnational jihadist character, unlike the Islamist forces in control of Afghanistan and Syria. This means that there a large spillover risk, with JNIM likely having ambitions to further invade Guinea, Chad and northern Nigeria if they manage to take power in the AES states.

Islamist forces played a key role in the civil wars in Libya and Algeria while they currently hold large swaths of territory in both Somalia and Mozambique.

And in the middle of it all is Sudan, from where Muslim Brotherhood-style Islamism can radiate across the region. It’s not a coincidence that Osama bin Laden made Sudan the man base of Al-Qaeda in the 1990s.

Today, the Muslim Brotherhood wields significant influence in the country by being deeply embedded in the country’s army (SAF) as well as through its powerful own armed group, the al-Baraa Bin Malik Brigade.

Its 20,000 Islamist fighters have been backed by Iranian IRGC training and drones, providing an interesting example of how the Islamic Regime in Iran and the Muslim Brotherhood cooperate globally.

Alarmed by the Islamist advance in Sudan, the U.S. designated the Sudanese Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist organization last month.

Meanwhile, the EU has applied only targeted sanctions on select individuals and entities, wary of complicating aid or diplomacy by terror-listing the Sudanese
Muslim Brotherhood.

During the Berlin Conference on Sudan which took place on April 15, the EU managed to lead the way for a 1.5B aid pledge for Sudan (the EU’s share is €812M).

During the conference, the EU again made it clear that it doesn’t want to take action against the Muslim Brotherhood in Sudan, but instead wants to strengthens Sudan’s democratic movement (the Sumud Alliance) & have the so-called ​“Quintet” play a larger role in pushing the warring factions to accelerate the peace process.

The Quintet on Sudan is composed of 5 major international & regional organizations: 

- The African Union (AU)
- The United Nations (UN)
- TheEuropean Union (EU)
- The Arab League (LAS)
- The Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) 

IGAD is in turn a regional economic bloc consisting of 8 nations across the Horn of Africa, the Nile Valley and the African Great Lakes: 

- Djibouti
- Ethiopia
- Kenya
- Somalia
- Sudan
- Uganda
- Eritrea
- South Sudan

The EU’s focus on multilateral diplomacy Is important but it doesn’t excuse the unwillingness to terror-list the Sudanese Muslim Brotherhood.

As its northern neighbor, and affected by mass-immigration from the south, Europe must do more than eradicate the Islamist threat from the northern part of the African continent.

ISIS, AQ and the MB must not be allowed to control territory

[Mika Aaltola @MikaAaltola]

Suomi täytti velvoitteensa. itäinen naapuri ei. Suomi palautti Pariisin rauhansopimuksen mukaisesti kaiken Itä-Karjalasta ja muualta viedyn omaisuuden. Velvoite on täytetty.

Venäjä ei ole palauttanut mitään. Puna-armeijan sotasaaliina viety suomalaisten evakkojen yksityisomaisuus, taideteokset ja arkistot makaavat yhä Pietarin museoissa ja varastoissa. Edelfelt, Gallen-Kallela, Simberg. Sortavalan kokoelmat. Karjalaisten kotien koko irtaimisto.

Kansainvälinen tapaoikeus on yksiselitteinen. Haagin sopimus 1907 kieltää yksityisomaisuuden ryöstön. Kulttuuriomaisuus on palautettava. Rauhansopimus siirsi alueet, ei omistusoikeutta.

Vääryys on dokumentoitu. On aika korjata se.

[OSINTdefender @sentdefender]

Tonight’s operation in Southern Iran which resulted in the successful rescue of a Weapons System Officer (WSO) onboard an American F-15E Strike Eagle downed Friday over Iran, involved hundreds of special forces troops and other military personnel, including members of the U.S. Navy’s SEAL Team Six, dozens of fighter and strike aircraft, helicopters, and cyber, space and other intelligence capabilities, officials tell The New York Times.

Senior military officials described the mission to rescue the airman as “one of the most challenging and complex in the history of U.S. Special Operations” given the mountainous terrain, the airman’s injuries and Iranian forces rushing to the location in the mountains of Southern Iran.

The WSO evaded Iranian forces for more than 24 hours, at one point hiking up a 7,000ft ridgeline, a senior U.S. military official said. U.S. attack aircraft dropped bombs and opened fire on Iranian convoys to keep them away from the area where the airman was hiding. As U.S. Special Forces converged on the downed airman, they fired their weapons to keep Iranian forces away from the rescue site, but did not engage in a firefight with the Iranians.

In a final twist after the officer was rescued, two transport planes that would carry the commandos and the airmen to safety got stuck at a remote base in Iran. Commanders decided to fly in three new planes to extract all the U.S. military personnel and the airman, and they blew up the two disabled planes rather than have them fall into the hands of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).

[Aki H Heikkinen @akihheikkinen]

Drones intruded to Finnish airspace today, two down near city of Kouvola.

Finnish Air Force flights in area for past few days and also since last night but so far no announcements if drones were shot down. Detected early so FDF was on the ball.

[Spandex Fella 🇫🇮🏴‍☠️ @sami_viitanen]

Kouvola is near the Utti Jaeger regiment base housing Finland's special forces and helicopters. There was a lot of f/a-18 hornet activity in the area, did they shoot down the drones (the Finnish word pudottaa, drop, means shooting down in this context)?

[ProFin🇫🇮🇪🇺🇺🇦🇸🇪🇪🇪 @RockOla69]

Eli Venäjä on hyökkäämässä jonnekin muutaman kuukauden sisällä?🤔

[GeoInsider @InsiderGeo]

BREAKING: Ukraine hits Primorsk, one of Russia’s largest oil export terminals in the Baltic. With everything already going on in the Middle East, this is another hit to the markets. Hard to see this not pushing oil prices even higher.