US News

• The Biden administration appears poised to increase internet surveillance in response to the leaked Pentagon documents that appear to have been posted on the messaging platform Discord. AWC
• The UN says more arms are getting trafficked from the US to Haiti. AP

Russia

• Wagner Group founder Yevgeny Prigozhin announced Sunday that he marked Orthodox Easter Sunday by ordering more than 100 Ukrainian POWs freed, according to Reuters. AWC
• The German government has approved Poland’s request to export five Soviet-made MiG-29 fighter jets to Ukraine that originally came from Berlin’s stockpile. AWC
• Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal directly asked Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin to provide Ukraine with longer-range missiles and fighter jets during a meeting in Washington on Wednesday. AWC
• Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba is calling on NATO to expand its military activity in the Black Sea, urging the alliance to transform the waters into a “sea of NATO.” AWC
• On Thursday, the FBI arrested a 21-year-old member of the Massachusetts Air National Guard as the suspected leaker of the classified documents from the Pentagon and other US government agencies that have surfaced online. AWC
• Leaked documents say Egypt planned to covertly transfer rockets to Russia. RS
• Belarusian Air Force crews have completed their training on the use of tactical nuclear weapons, the Russian Defense Ministry announced on Friday. AWC
• A high number of American smart bombs are failing to achieve their objective in Ukraine, a Pentagon official told Politico confirming information in documents leaked by Jack Teixeira. AWC
• Poland and Hungary will pause imports of Ukrainian grain. The European Union’s agricultural policies in response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine have caused a glut of wheat in Central Europe, harming the region’s farmers. AWC
• The Russian Navy’s Pacific Fleet is set to carry out various weapons tests, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu announced on Friday. Moscow’s drills come amid heightened tensions in the region as well as numerous large scale war drills led by Washington and its allies. AWC

China

• Around 25 US defense contractors plan to send representatives to Taiwan next month, marking the first time the arms industry will send a delegation to the island since 2019, Nikkei Asia reported on Tuesday. AWC
• French state media reports that the country’s parliament is set to send two delegations on visits to Taiwan this month. AWC

Korea

• Over 100 American and South Korean warplanes will take part in large-scale, joint aerial war games. The military exercises come as North Korea warns of a realistic chance of nuclear war. AWC

Syria

• Saudi Arabia’s push to bring Syria back into the Arab League is facing resistance from a few countries, The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday. AWC