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.
Why would you use э for e?
Probably since it’s their equivalent of the latin e? In my understanding the Russian cyrillic e is pronounced “ye”, so э is closer to the latin e.
Note: I don’t speak Russian so anyone with more knowledge feel free to correct me.
Also: This is for Russian cyrillic, I believe in Ukrainian cyrillic for instance, it’s the other way around, so e is e and э is ye.
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.