The Vineyard of the Saker: Ukraine SITREP-update April 24, 1506 UTC/Zulu (UPDATED)

Wow! Now things look very serious indeed. RT reports that Russia is starting military maneuvers involving not one, but TWO military districts plus the Air Force:

• Russia has begun extensive military exercises in Ukrainian border area following the escalation of violence in eastern Ukraine.
• “The order to use force against civilians has already been given, and if this military machine is not stopped, the amount of casualties will only grow,” Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu said during an official meeting in Moscow.
• “War games by NATO in Poland and the Baltic states are not helping the normalization of the situation. We are forced to react to the situation.”
• Shoigu said that the drills involve march and deployment exercises by forces in the southern and western military districts, and separate Air Force maneuvers.
• Shoigu said that 11,000 Ukrainian soldiers, 160 tanks, 230 armored carriers and at least 150 artillery pieces are involved in the operation against anti-Kiev activists.
• “National guard units and Right Sector extremists are fighting against the peaceful population, as well as a volunteer Donbass ‘anti-terrorist’ unit. Also security and internal forces transferred to Lugansk and Donetsk from other areas of the country are suppressing dissent,” the minister said.
• He added that Ukrainian sabotage units have been deployed near the Russian border.
• In contrast, Shoigu said that the pro-Russian self-defense units number about 2,000 and have about 100 guns between them, which have mostly been taken from local police stations.

I did not expect such a dramatic and rapid escalation and if I was on the side of the forces currently attacking Slaviansk I would get really frightened. The size of the force Shoigu has just mobilized is huge, potentially enough to fight a major war on a full continental front. It also includes the best and most powerful and battle-hardened Russian units from the southern military district.

Complete story at - The Vineyard of the Saker: Ukraine SITREP-update April 24, 1506 UTC/Zulu (UPDATED)