I don't anticipate giving these events much further coverage, if any, but a quick mention of these two strong national championships is not out of order.
The Ukranian Championship is 6 rounds in and after winning three and then drawing three Ruslan Ponomariov has a half point lead over Yuriy Kryvoruchko. Five rounds remain, which is probably five too many for tailender Valeriy Neverov, who lost two games in 53 moves, one in 73 moves, and, most brutally in a rook and knight vs. rook ending, in 210 moves. (Have a look!)
The Russian Championship is a nine-round Swiss that just started on Thursday (yesterday for most of you as I write this), and while it's not as strong as it often is there are nevertheless six players rated over 2700. (Nikita Vitiugov is the top seed.)