A senior Russian Foreign Ministry official said commercial satellites from the United States and its allies could be legitimate targets for Russia if involved in the war in Ukraine.
“Semi-civilian infrastructure can be a legitimate target for retaliatory attacks,” Konstantin Vorontsov, deputy director of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ non-proliferation and arms control department, told TASS.
“We are talking about the involvement of components of civilian, including commercial, space infrastructure in armed conflict by the United States and its allies,” Vorontsov told the United Nations.
Vorontsov did not mention a specific satellite company, but billionaire Elon Musk said earlier this month that his rocket company, SpaceX, will continue to fund Starlink’s internet service in Ukraine. He pointed out the necessity of “good deeds.”
Musk said last week that SpaceX’s Starlink service is not funded by the US Department of Defense. Starlink terminals are in both military and civilian use in Ukraine.
Below are other major headlines about the war in Ukraine on Thursday, October 27th.
Putin’s allies make rare announcement of soldier’s death
Ramzan Kadyrov, a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin and the hardline leader of the Muslim-majority region of Chechnya in southern Russia, said on Thursday that 23 of his soldiers had been killed in Ukraine. He said he was killed by artillery fire.
Kadyrov, writing in a telegram, said his soldiers had been killed in the southern region of Kherson, Ukraine.
Russia rarely publishes battlefield death tolls. Kadyrov claims that his forces killed about 70 Ukrainians in retaliatory attacks, but this could not be confirmed.
US accuses Russia of wasting UN Security Council time
Washington has reacted to claims of a US “military biological program” in Ukraine by Russia as a waste of the UN Security Council’s time.
The United States and Ukraine have rejected previous similar allegations by Russian officials, but the Kremlin’s new attempt to get the Security Council to formally investigate it has been branded as spreading a conspiracy theory.
“How much longer are we going to have to endure this nonsense?” British Ambassador to the United Nations Barbara Woodward asked the Council.
Her U.S. counterpart, Linda Thomas Greenfield, described the allegations as “pure fabrications brought up without a shred of evidence.”
US plans another $275 million military aid package
The White House is set to announce new military aid to Ukraine, Reuters reported Thursday.
This package could contain ammunition and the High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMAR) launcher that played a key role in the Ukrainian counteroffensive.
The US has already spent over $17 billion to help Ukraine deter a Russian aggression.
Putin says Western countries will use sanctions to deter rivals
Russian President Vladimir Putin accuses the West of using economic sanctions and a “color revolution” against rivals in an interview with the Valdai Discussion Club, amid growing economic and political power in Asia. said it could not compete fairly with
Putin said the West had “ditched the rules” of international affairs in order to maintain control and curb what they considered a “second-rate civilization.”
According to Putin, the West had been playing a “dangerous, bloody and dirty” game over Ukraine, which was invaded by Russian forces in February. Ultimately, he said, he believes it is necessary to have talks with Russia in order to
Putin also denied the option of using nuclear weapons in Ukraine, repeating unproven allegations that Ukraine intends to use “dirty bombs”.
He argued that the next decade would be the most “risky” since the end of World War II.
He accused the United States of wasting diplomatic ties with China after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan. He also said Washington had foiled an attempt to reach a nuclear deal with North Korea by introducing sanctions against it.
The White House said Putin’s speech was “not very new” and did not represent a change in Russia’s war strategy.
IMF chief says EU and US aid to Ukraine will be ‘adequate’ by 2023
Assuming the war does not escalate, IMF Director-General Kristalina Georgieva said financial commitments to Ukraine by the United States and Europe would be enough to win Kyiv by 2023.
“If Ukraine has enough financial support, we’ll go in 2023,” Georgieva said on the sidelines of a conference hosted by the EU’s executive body, the European Commission.
“As we look to next year, the numbers are significant, but they are not out of context with what has been done so far,” she added, emphasizing that the outlook is highly uncertain.
In early October, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky asked the country’s partners for help to cover Kyiv’s $38 billion budget deficit in 2023.
Russia warns of retaliation if EU confiscates state assets
Russia’s foreign ministry said Russia would retaliate if state and citizen assets were confiscated by the European Union.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said it was “stealing” when asked about comments allegedly suggesting that European leaders could seize Russia’s assets in the EU. .
“The EU judiciary refuses to protect the property of Russians,” she said.
After strike, Kyiv region faces 30% energy capacity deficit
The Kyiv region, which includes the capital itself, is facing a 30% shortfall in the capacity to generate needed electricity after an overnight Russian strike targeting energy infrastructure, the regional governor said.
“Last night, the enemy damaged the energy infrastructure facilities in our region. Many important facilities were disabled,” said Oleksiy Kleva.
Separately, the Kyiv region’s military government said the region had to “prepare for an indefinite emergency blackout” due to the Russian strike.
Germany believes explosion affected both Nord Stream 2 pipes
The German government believes it is unlikely that one of the two pipes in the Baltic Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline is completely intact after the September explosion.
The government said, “It is very likely that sabotage from powerful explosions has adversely affected both pipeline routes and that basic technical access is no longer guaranteed.”
An unexplained explosion in late September caused four gas leaks in the Nord Stream 1 and 2 gas pipelines in the Baltic Sea. Two of them occurred in Swedish waters and two in Danish waters. Many analysts have claimed the explosion was intentional, which the Russian government denies.
Switzerland to probe Germany’s request to re-export arms to Ukraine
After being denied earlier this year, Germany has made another request to neutral Switzerland to allow Swiss-made ammunition to be re-exported to Ukraine for use in its war with Russia. Germany supplied Ukraine with her 30 Gepard tanks and about 60,000 rounds of ammunition.
A spokesman for the Swiss Economic Office said it had received a letter from the German Defense Ministry on the matter, adding that Economy Minister Guy Parmelin “will respond to this letter in a timely manner”. A spokesman declined to comment on whether Ukraine had also made a statement to the Swiss government.
In April, Bern refused to re-export the Swiss ammunition used by the Gepard anti-aircraft tank. The 35mm shells were originally supplied to the German army by a Swiss company decades ago, but were banned from being re-exported after the Swiss government determined that they violated the Swiss Neutrality Law.
EU proposal to limit Russian gas prices ‘unthinkable’
Igor Sechin, president of Russia’s largest oil company Rosneft, said the proposal by the European Commission to introduce a price cap on Russian gas was “unthinkable”.
Sechin said at an international forum in Baku that while Western sanctions are subverting corporate law, Russia’s refusal to buy hydrocarbons will lead to “severe energy shortages” and accelerate global inflation. said he was letting
He also said Saudi Arabia’s position in the global oil market was “reasonable” and based on an analysis of oil supply and demand.
The OPEC Plus group, the world’s leading oil producer that includes Saudi Arabia and Russia, agreed earlier this month to cut total production by 2 million barrels per day despite opposition from the US to lower fuel prices. did.
Crimean power plant hit by drone attack, Ukrainian power grid hit
Authorities in Moscow’s annexed Crimea said on Thursday that a thermal power station on the peninsula had been targeted by drones in a nighttime attack, but claimed no serious damage.
“Today there was a UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle) attack on the Balaklava thermal power plant,” Mikhail Razvodjayev, the governor of Russia-installed Sevastopol, told Telegram. “The transformer has minimal damage. There were no casualties,” he added.
Meanwhile, in the central region of Ukraine, the power grid was damaged overnight and power was cut off. Grid operator Ukrenergo said further supply restrictions are possible.
“Equipment of the main network of the Ukrainian energy system in the central region was damaged,” said a statement on the Telegram messaging app.
Russia has intensified its strikes on critical Ukrainian infrastructure, including the power grid, in recent weeks, leaving millions without electricity or heating for extended periods as winter approaches.
Russia Involves Regional Officials in War Effort — UK Ministry of Defence
By appointing Moscow mayor Sergey Sobyanin as regional coordinator for the war against Ukraine, the Kremlin hopes to deflect public criticism of President Vladimir Putin’s leadership, according to the latest British Defense Intelligence Agency update. tells us.
“This measure will likely lead to closer liaison of regional governors to Russia’s national security system,” the update read.
The UK Defense Ministry said the increased involvement of regional authorities was likely intended, at least in part, to divert public criticism away from the country’s leadership.
Australia trains Ukrainian army
Australia said it would send 70 soldiers to the UK to help train Ukrainian forces and ship 30 more armored vehicles to bolster Kyiv’s war against Russian aggression.
“We expect this to be a protracted conflict,” Australian Defense Minister Richard Marls told ABC television. The latest package brings Australia’s aid to Ukraine to around A$655 million ($425 million, €422.5 million) since Russia’s invasion in February.
“We are mindful of the need to support Ukraine in the long term if we are to put it in a position to resolve this dispute on its own terms,” he said.
Australia is one of the largest non-NATO contributors to Western aid to Ukraine, supplying aid and defense equipment, and has banned exports of alumina and aluminum ore, including bauxite, to Russia. It also imposes sanctions on hundreds of Russian individuals and entities.
More DW content about the war in Ukraine
Hundreds of Ukrainian cultural institutions have been affected by Russian aggression. UNESCO is using satellite imagery to track and prepare for recovery.
ab, dh/rt (AFP, AP, dpa, Reuters)
