Russia threatens West’s satellites – DW – 10/28/2022

A senior Russian Foreign Ministry official said that commercial satellites from the United States and its allies could become legitimate targets for Russia if they were involved in the war in Ukraine.

“Quasi-civilian infrastructure may be a legitimate target for a retaliatory strike,” Konstantin Vorontsov, deputy director of the foreign ministry’s department for non-proliferation and arms control, was quoted as saying by TASS.

“We are talking about the involvement of components of civilian space infrastructure, including commercial, by the United States and its allies in armed conflicts,” Vorontsov was quoted as saying at the United Nations.

Vorontsov did not mention any specific satellite companies, though billionaire Elon Musk said earlier this month that his rocket company SpaceX would continue to fund its Starlink internet service in Ukraine, citing the need for “good deeds.”

Musk said last week that SpaceX’s Starlink services have not received any funding from the US Department of Defense. Starlink terminals are used in Ukraine by both the military and civilian population.

Here are the other main headlines from the war in Ukraine on Thursday, October 27:

Putin ally makes rare announcement of soldier deaths

Ramzan Kadyrov, a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin and himself the hardline leader of the southern Russian Muslim-majority region of Chechnya, said on Thursday that 23 of his soldiers had been killed by Ukrainian shelling.

Writing on Telegram, Kadyrov said that his soldiers had been killed while in the southern Kherson region of Ukraine. He also said another 58 were wounded.

Russia has rarely given numbers of battlefield deaths. Kadyrov claims that his forces killed some 70 Ukrainians in a revenge attack, but this could not be verified.

US accuses Russia of wasting UN Security Council’s time

Washington has responded to claims of US “military biological programs” in Ukraine made by Moscow as a waste of the UN Security Council’s time.

The US and Ukraine have rejected previous similar claims made by Russian authorities, but a new attempt from the Kremlin to call for a formal inquiry from the Security Council has been branded as the spreading of conspiracy theories.

“How much more of this nonsense do we have to endure?” Britain’s UN Ambassador Barbara Woodward asked the council.

Her US counterpart Linda Thomas-Greenfield described the claims as “pure fabrications brought forth without a shred of evidence.”

US planning another $275 million military assistance package

The White House is expected to announce a new round of military assistance to Ukraine Reuters reported on Thursday.

The package is likely to include ammunition and further High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMAR) launchers that have played a key role in Ukraine’s counter-offensive.

The US has already spent over $17 billion to assist Ukraine hold off Russia’s invasion.

Putin says West uses sanctions to hold back rivals

Russian President Vladimir Putin, speaking to the Valdai Discussion Club, accused Western nations of using economic sanctions and “color revolutions” against rivals and said they could not compete fairly with the rising economic and political might of Asia.

Putin said Western countries had “thrown aside the rules” of international affairs in order to maintain their domination and hold down what they saw as “second-class civilizations.”

According to Putin, the West was playing a “dangerous, bloody and dirty” game over Ukraine, which Russian forces invaded in February. Putin said he believes the United States and its allies would ultimately have to talk to Russia to end the war Moscow started.

Putin also ruled out the option of using nuclear weapons in Ukraine and reiterated his unproven allegations that Ukraine intends to use a “dirty bomb.” 

He claimed the decade ahead is the most “dangerous” since the end of the Second World War.

He accused the US of squandering its diplomatic relations with China after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan. He also said Washington had botched its attempt at a nuclear deal with North Korea by introducing sanctions against Pyongyang. 

The White House said Putin’s speech “wasn’t that new” and did not indicate a change in Russia’s war strategy. 

IMF chief says EU and US Ukraine aid pledges ‘sufficient’ for 2023

IMF chief Kristalina Georgieva said financial pledges for Ukraine by the United States and Europe should be sufficient to get Kyiv through 2023, assuming the war does not intensify.

“Yes, we would go to 2023 with sufficient financial support for Ukraine,” Georgieva said on the sidelines of a conference organized by the…