Telegram channels such as Baza, Ostorozhno Novosti and Vazhnye Istorii were posting eyewitness statements and phone footage as early as 20:15 Moscow time and throughout the event. There was no jamming. Degraded performance was reported for Telegram and VK. Whether the issue was with the local access points or Telegram’s data centers is not clear.
In Russian, pronunciation of Е depends on its placement. If preceded by a consonant, it’s pronounced like a “softer” Э. A bit like “bet” vs “bat” in US English. It’s only pronounced as “ye” if it’s the first letter of the word, or preceded by a vowel, soft sign (Ь) or hard sign (Ъ).
In Ukrainian, Є is similar to Russian Е, but it’s not modified if preceded by a consonant - in these cases it’s typically replaced by i. Ukrainian Е is indeed about the same as Russian Э. And Russian Ё is replaced by combinations ЙО or ЬО.