Chris Lange, FISM News

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A senior Russian foreign ministry threatened the U.S. and its allies that their commercial satellites would be legitimate targets if they become involved in the war in Ukraine.

Konstantin Vorontsov, deputy director of the Russian foreign ministry’s department for non-proliferation and arms control, told the United Nations on Wednesday that the West’s “provocative” use of satellites to aid the Ukrainian war effort represented “an extremely dangerous trend.”

“Quasi-civilian infrastructure may be a legitimate target for a retaliatory strike,” Vorontsov told the United Nations First Committee. He also accused the West of using space to enforce Western dominance.

“We are talking about the involvement of components of civilian space infrastructure, including commercial, by the United States and its allies in armed conflicts,” he continued.

Vorontsov did not specifically name any satellite companies, but SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk said earlier this month that he will continue to provide Ukraine with Starlink internet service.

Russia, along with the U.S. and China, has extensive offensive space capabilities and, in 2021, destroyed one of its own satellites using an anti-satellite missile.

Battle over Kherson intensifies; 70k evacuated

Russian-appointed Kherson governor Vladimir Saldo said more than 70,000 residents from the region, including administration officials, have been evacuated in anticipation of increased fighting. Ukraine continues efforts to push its offensive to reclaim Kherson, one of four regions Russia formally annexed this month, but wet weather and challenging terrain have hampered these efforts. Kremlin forces have occupied Kherson since the beginning of war. 

Ukrainian forces are also fighting to drive back Russian troops in parts of the eastern Donetsk region.

Elsewhere, in Ukraine’s capital city of Kyiv, regional governor Oleskiy Kuleba said that Russia continues targeting Ukraine’s infrastructure with missile and drone strikes. He said a fire broke out at a nearby energy facility following a Russian drone attack Thursday morning.

“The Russians are using drones and missiles to destroy Ukraine’s energy system ahead of the winter and terrorize civilians,” Kuleba said in televised remarks.

U.N. Official ‘optimistic’ rocky grain export agreement will be extended

A week after Ukraine accused Russia of failing to meet its obligations under a U.N.-brokered deal to resume Black Sea grain exports, U.N. aid chief Martin Griffiths said on Wednesday that he felt “relatively optimistic” the agreement would be extended beyond mid-November, when the 120-day agreement was set to expire.

Griffiths said he and senior U.N. trade official Rebeca Grynspan met with Russian officials in Moscow earlier this month to discuss the deal, which also facilitates the export of Russia’s agricultural products to global markets. 

“We are keen to see [the agreement] renewed promptly, now,” Griffiths told reporters. “It’s important for the market. It’s important for just continuity. And I’m still relatively optimistic that we’re going to get that. We’re working hard.” 

The United Nations is working to extend the deal for up to a year longer and is focusing on ways it can streamline joint inspections of ships by U.N., Turkish, Russian, and Ukrainian officials that have created a backlog of more than 150 ships. 

“I think we should have another look at some of those [procedures] to see if they may be simplified in some way,” Griffiths said.

Ukraine bolsters forces at border with Belarus

Ukraine has been strengthening its forces in the northern region bordering Belarus to counter a possible resumption of Russian attacks across the border, officials said.

“At the current time the creation of a strike force [in Belarus] is not observable,” Ukraine’s General Staff said on Thursday, though it added that “there are and will be threats. “

“We are reacting, we have already increased our troops in the northern direction,” Oleksii Hromov, deputy head of the General Staff’s Main Operations Directorate, told reporters at a briefing.

Belarus is Russia’s main ally in the conflict and has allowed Russian forces to use its territory to launch attacks on Ukraine.

Uzbek nationals seek help after being served with mobilization papers

Uzbek nationals working at a waste processing plant in the western Russian city of Oryol are pleading with their president, Shavkat Mirziyoyev, to intervene to help them after they reported that they were handed draft noises and ordered to report to a local conscription point.

Oryol authorities sent out a new batch of draft notices this week, including 50 to workers of the EcoCity waste processing facility, half of whom are Uzbek nationals, Reuters reported.

A video viewed by the news service shows a group of men displaying their Uzbek passports as they begged Mirziyoyev to intervene on their behalf.