Musk indicates SpaceX will stop funding Starlink terminals in Ukraine; Russia starts evacuating civilians from Kherson

The organization overseeing the export of grain from Ukraine said it has approved six vessels to leave the besieged country.

The Black Sea Grain Initiative, a deal among Ukraine, Russia, the United Nations and Turkey, said the vessels are carrying 153,505 metric tons of grain and other crops.

Two ships are destined for Turkey and are carrying wheat and corn. One ship will depart from Ukraine’s Yuzhny-Pivdennyi port for Iraq and is carrying 33,000 metric tons of sunflower oil. Another ship will leave from Chornomorsk to China and is carrying 62,860 metric tons of sunflower meal.

The fifth vessel will sail to Germany and is carrying 30,817 metric tons of rapeseed. One ship will leave for Lebanon carrying 7,000 metric tons of corn.

Read more about the Black Sea Grain Initiative here.

— Amanda Macias

Russia is set to begin evacuating civilians from Ukraine’s embattled Kherson, in the latest sign that Ukrainian forces are successfully breaching more of the Russian-occupied territory.

“We suggested that all residents of the Kherson region, if they wish, to protect themselves from the consequences of missile strikes… go to other regions,” Vladimir Saldo, Russian-installed administration chief in Kherson, said in a video message, stressing that people should “leave with their children.”

Evacuees from Kherson, in Ukraine’s south, are planned to start arriving in Russia on Friday, Reuters reported. That’s despite Russia announcing the annexation of the territory in early October, along with three other Ukrainian regions, after holding a sham referendum that claimed that a majority of people in Kherson wanted to join the Russian Federation.

The annexations were condemned by 143 countries in a U.N. vote on Thursday.

— Natasha Turak

Elon Musk has appeared to confirm that his company SpaceX will no longer fund donated Starlink internet terminals in Ukraine.

He also said Friday that SpaceX cannot continue fund Starlink terminals in Ukraine “indefinitely.”

It follows a CNN report that SpaceX was pulling funding for the terminals, citing documents obtained from the Pentagon. SpaceX is asking the U.S. government pay for the terminals instead, according to the report.

Musk himself appeared to confirm this in a tweet Friday, replying to a Twitter post that referenced the Ukrainian ambassador telling Musk earlier this month to to “f— off.”

“We’re just following his recommendation,” Musk replied.

The CNN report said that documents it had obtained “show that last month Musk’s SpaceX sent a letter to the Pentagon saying it can no longer continue to fund the Starlink service as it has.”

“The letter also requested that the Pentagon take over funding for Ukraine’s government and military use of Starlink, which SpaceX claims would cost more than $120m for the rest of the year and could cost close to $400m for the next 12 months,” it added.

According to the report, SpaceX’s director of government sales told the Pentagon in a letter in September: “We are not in a position to further donate terminals to Ukraine, or fund the existing terminals for an indefinite period of time.”

Musk, SpaceX’s founder and CEO, is one of the richest men on earth.

— Natasha Turak

The organization overseeing the export of grain from Ukraine said that since August more than 320 vessels have left the besieged country.

The Black Sea Grain Initiative, a deal among Ukraine, Russia, the United Nations and Turkey, said the voyages have exported more than 7.2 million metric tons of grain and other crops.

Read more about the Black Sea Grain Initiative here.

— Amanda Macias

The U.S. Treasury will host a meeting on Friday of countries imposing economic restrictions on Russia for its illegal invasion of Ukraine.

Deputy Secretary of the Treasury Wally Adeyemo, along with Deputy Secretary of Commerce Don Graves and Deputy Director of National Intelligence Morgan Muir will convene top officials from finance ministries and other government agencies that are imposing sanctions and export controls against Russia.

“Economic restrictions placed on the Russian military-industrial complex have had a direct effect on the battlefield,” Treasury wrote in a statement.

“Together, these collective actions have rendered the Russian defense industry unable to produce and maintain critical equipment for operations in Ukraine, including unmanned aerial vehicles, tanks, and missiles,” the statement said, adding that Russia’s defense industry is “hobbling.”

— Amanda Macias

The Russian governor of Belgorod says that Ukrainian armed forces blew up an ammunition depot, according to an update on the Telegram messaging app.

“In a village in the Belgorod district, as a result of the shelling of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, an ammunition depot was blown up. The detonation occurred,” wrote Vyacheslav Gladkov, Belgorod’s governor.

He said that there were no victims or injuries. It was not immediately clear if Ukraine claimed responsibility for the shelling near the ammunition depot.

— Amanda Macias

Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the U.N. General Assembly’s vote to condemn Moscow for its attempt to annex more areas of Ukraine shows that “the world has never been more united in its repudiation of Russia’s war.”

“[Russian President Vladimir] Putin has never been more isolated,” Blinken said at the State Department.

“The U.N. resolution is also a resounding affirmation of global support for everything that President Putin is actually trying to destroy. It’s about affirming the right of every nation, big and small, to have its sovereignty, its independence, its territorial integrity,” Blinken added.

— Amanda Macias