Putin says mobilization to end in two weeks; Musk says SpaceX will stop funding Starlink in Ukraine

Member countries of the International Monetary Fund nearly unanimously called for Russia to end its war in Ukraine, the IMF's steering committee chair said in a news conference, reported Reuters.

The conflict, said Chair Nadia Calviño, is the largest factor fueling inflation and slowing global economic recovery.

"More than two years of pandemic, followed by Russia's war against Ukraine, are weighing heavily on economic activity with significant impact on livelihoods," she said in her statement at the 46th Meeting of the IMFC.

Director of the European Department of the IMF, Alfred Kammer, echoed Calviño's remarks in a press conference.

"Russia's invasion of Ukraine caused the higher energy prices, caused a lack of food exports, and led to increases in prices globally and in particular in Europe, and is a root cause of the slowdown and the recession we are seeing in some of the countries," he said.

Calviño reiterated the need for international cooperation and multilateralism, following the United Nations General Assembly resolution adopted by 143 member states earlier this week, which recognized Ukraine's territorial integrity in the face of Russian aggression.

— Rocio Fabbro

Three United States agencies jointly issued an alert outlining the effect of sanctions and export control restrictions on Russia's defense capabilities, and warned countries about the risks of supporting Russia's military-industrial complex.

The Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control, Commerce Department's Bureau of Industry and Security and the State Department released a comprehensive overview of the widespread actions the U.S. and its allies have taken against Russia's "unjustified and unprovoked" invasion of Ukraine.

"The strategic intent of our actions is to degrade Russia's ability to wage its unjust war against Ukraine and prevent Russia from projecting military force beyond its borders," the report read.

Significant actions mentioned in the report include, among several others, the freezing of approximately $300 billion worth Russian central bank assets and the denial of exports, reexports and transfers to and within Russia and Belarus of multilaterally controlled items.

The report also highlighted OFAC's continued efforts to target Russia's efforts to resupply its weapons. New guidance from the office outlined further plans to target people outside the U.S. that provide ammunition or other support to Russia's military-industrial complex, as well as private military companies or paramilitary groups.

— Rocio Fabbro

U.S. Treasury officials met with global partners in a joint effort to weaken Russia's finances and downgrade its military capacity amid the war with Ukraine, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said.

"The United States and our partners continue to mount an unprecedented and coordinated response to Russia's illegal and immoral war," Yellen said ahead of a press conference. "Today, at Treasury, we met with counterparts on efforts to degrade Russia's military-industrial complex."

The meeting capped off a week of networking among global finance ministers at the annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank. Yellen and Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo are soliciting the finance chiefs to pressure Russia with more sanctions.

Yellen has said the war and the COVID-19 pandemic are driving global economic uncertainty. She said the sanctions have left Russia "deeply weakened" financially.

"Foreign investors have left in droves. And projections indicate contractions in their economy for at least this year and the next," said Yellen.

— Chelsey Cox

Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov said that Russian forces have fired 124 Iskander missiles into his country since Moscow invaded in late February.

Reznikov also said on Twitter that the "occupiers" fired more than 270 Kalibr sea-launched missiles and more than 200 Kh-101 and Kh-555 air-launched missiles.

Reznikov also said that Russian forces have used these missiles against civilian infrastructure.

— Amanda Macias

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has a warning for the West: Do not push Russian President Vladimir Putin into a corner.

Russia has nuclear weapons for a reason and crossing Putin's "red lines" in Ukraine would be a mistake, the strongman and close Kremlin ally said in an exclusive interview Friday.

"If you back a person or a country into the corner, there is only one way out — forward," Lukashenko told NBC's Keir Simmons on the sidelines of a regional summit of post-Soviet leaders in Astana, the capital of Kazakhstan.

"That's why don't cross red lines, you cannot cross them." 

Read the full NBC News exclusive here.

— NBC NEWS

The organization overseeing the export of grain from Ukraine said it has approved three 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 84,500 metric tons of grain and other crops.

Two ships are set to leave from Ukraine's port of Odesa and are destined for Tunisia and Spain. The third vessel is departing from Chornomorsk to Algeria.

Read more about the Black Sea Grain Initiative here.

— Amanda Macias

The Belarus Ministry of Defense announced that Russian troops will arrive in Belarus in the coming days for its joint force operation, according to Reuters.

"Troops from the Russian component of the Regional Grouping of Forces will start arriving in Belarus in the next few days," the Minsk defense ministry said.

This follows Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko's announcement earlier this week that several thousand Russian soldiers would be stationed in Belarus, which he referred to as a "regional grouping of troops."

Lukashenko, a longtime ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, indicated his willingness to respond to any threats from Ukraine, hinting at a possible escalation of the war. The announcement followed the blast that damaged the bridge linking Crimea to Russia, for which Putin blamed Ukraine.

— Rocio Fabbro

More than 7.6 million Ukrainians have become refugees and moved to neighboring countries since Russia invaded Ukraine in late February, the U.N. Refugee Agency estimates.

More than 4.3 million of those people have applied for temporary resident status in neighboring Western European countries, according to data collected by the agency.

"The escalation of conflict in Ukraine has caused civilian casualties and destruction of civilian infrastructure, forcing people to flee their homes seeking safety, protection and assistance," the U.N. Refugee Agency wrote.

— Amanda Macias

Russian President Vladimir Putin said there was no need for massive new strikes on Ukraine and that Russia was not looking to destroy the country.

Putin told a news conference at the end of a summit in Kazakhstan that his call-up of Russian reservists would be over within two weeks and there were no plans for a further mobilization.

He also repeated the Kremlin position that Russia was willing to hold talks, although he said they would require international mediation if Ukraine was prepared to take part.

Taken together, Putin's comments appeared to suggest a slight softening of his tone as the war nears the end of its eighth month, after weeks of Ukrainian advances and significant Russian defeats. Wall Street shares opened higher as traders interpreted them as easing geopolitical tensions, though they dipped later in the day.

But Putin - who has said he would be ready to use nuclear weapons to defend Russia's "territorial integrity" - also warned of a "global catastrophe" in the event of a direct clash of NATO troops with Russia.

He was speaking after a week when Russia has staged its heaviest missile attacks on Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities since the start of its invasion of Feb. 24 - an action that Putin has said was retaliation for an attack that damaged a Russian bridge to unilaterally annexed Crimea.

— Reuters

Two NATO member countries have not yet signed ratification protocols for Finland and Sweden to join the military alliance.

Out of NATO's 30 member countries, Hungary and Turkey are the last not to grant Sweden and Finland membership. Slovakia was the latest NATO ally to sign ratification documents on Sept. 27.

On Thursday, U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin called on the last two remaining NATO members to ratify Finland and Sweden's membership.

"I encourage all of our valued allies to ratify the protocols for accession as soon as possible so that we can welcome both of these highly-capable democratic partners into the alliance," Austin told reporters at NATO.

In May, both nations began the formal process of applying to NATO as Russia's war in Ukraine raged. All 30 members of the alliance have to ratify the countries' entry into the group.

In August, U.S. President Joe Biden signed ratification documents following a 95-1 Senate vote to bring Finland and Sweden into NATO.

— Amanda Macias

Russian President Vladimir Putin said he thinks a mobilization of army reservists he ordered last month to bolster his country's troops in Ukraine will to be completed in two weeks.

Putin told reporters after attending a summit in Kazakhstan that 222,000 of the 300,000 reservists the Russian Defense Ministry said would get called up have been mobilized. A total of 33,000 of them are already in military units and 16,000 are involved in the military operation in Ukraine.

The Russian leader initially described the mobilization as "partial" and said only those with combat or service experience would be drafted. However, a decree he signed outlined almost no specific criteria. Russian media reports have described attempts to round up men without the relevant experience, including those ineligible for service for medical reasons.

The call-up, announced by Putin in September, has proved hugely unpopular in Russia, where almost all men under the age of 65 are registered as reservists. In the wake of the president's mobilization order, tens of thousands of men left Russia.

— Associated Press

U.S. Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo outlined the next steps the U.S. will take in imposing economic restrictions on Russia for its war in Ukraine.

"Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control is issuing guidance making clear that we are willing and able to sanction people, companies, or countries that provide ammunition to Russia or support Russia's military-industrial complex," he said in a meeting with representatives from 33 countries held to discuss Russian sanctions.

Additionally, OFAC and the Commerce Department's Bureau of Industry and Security will jointly release a outline of their actions against Russia's military-industrial complex and the risks for those providing material support for Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

"Not only have we been able to impose costs on the Kremlin for its actions, but our economic restrictions placed on the Russian military-industrial complex have had a direct effect on the battlefield," Adeyemo said of past efforts.

Since Russia invaded Ukraine, the U.S. and Western allies have implemented sweeping sanctions across the financial, technological and export sectors to punish Russian aggression and isolate the nation economically and diplomatically.

— Rocio Fabbro

U.S. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley spoke with his Ukrainian counterpart on the sidelines of the NATO defense ministerial meeting in Brussels.

"They discussed the unprovoked and ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine and exchanged perspectives and assessments," according to a Pentagon readout of the call with Ukrainian Armed Forces Gen. Valery Zaluzhny.

Milley reaffirmed U.S. commitment to Ukraine's fight against Russia and recognized Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity.

Meanwhile, in Brussels, Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov joined the NATO meeting and the U.S.-led Ukraine Defense Contact Group.

— Amanda Macias

U.S. national security advisor Jake Sullivan met with Lithuanian officials to discuss the war in Ukraine.

Sullivan met with Asta Skaisgiryte, Lithuania's chief foreign policy advisor and his counterpart Kestutis Budrys, Lithuania's chief national security advisor.

"They discussed their shared commitment to continuing to provide Ukraine with security assistance to defend its sovereignty and territorial integrity and to maintain sanctions pressure to hold Russia accountable," the White House said in a readout.

Sullivan also reiterated U.S. commitment to NATO's collective defense and discussed plans for the 2023 NATO Summit, which Lithuania will host.

— Amanda Macias

Calls by a Russian-installed official for residents to flee the Russian-occupied Kherson region of southern Ukraine and go to Russia amount to "deportation," a Ukrainian regional official said.

Vladimir Saldo, who was appointed head of the region by Moscow after Russian forces seized it early in the war in Ukraine, publicly asked for government help on Thursday in moving civilians out.

Saldo made his appeal following advances by Ukrainian forces in southern Ukraine.

"We understand that there can be no evacuation, this is nothing more than deportation that Saldo calls for," Serhiy Khlan, a member of Kherson's regional council, told a briefing.

"This 'evacuation' announced by Saldo is an evacuation for collaborators and traitors in the region... they want to take these collaborators to Russia," Khlan said.

Most of the Kherson region was seized in the first days of Russia's invasion as it sent in troops from adjoining Crimea.

— Reuters

A direct clash between Russia and NATO troops would result in a "global catastrophe," Russian President Vladimir Putin said from a conference in Astana, Kazakhstan, warning against such an eventuality.

"I hope that those who are saying this are smart enough not to take such steps," Putin said, according to Reuters.

Asked during a news conference at the same event whether he regretted any of Russia's actions in Ukraine, the Russian president said "no," adding that Russia's aim was not to destroy Ukraine.

Russian troops have been fighting in their neighboring country since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion on Feb. 24. Since then, Russia's military has killed thousands of people, sent more than 11 million people out of Ukraine as refugees, internally displaced many more, destroyed billions of dollars worth of civilian, military, and critical infrastructure, and has been accused of committing numerous war crimes.

Moscow denies it has targeted civilians or civilian infrastructure.

— Natasha Turak

Russian President Vladimir Putin will close humanitarian corridors used for Ukrainian grain transportation if they are used for "acts of terror," he said while speaking at a press conference in Kazakhstan.

He added that he had not yet decided if he would attend the G20 summit in Bali, Indonesia in November, but said that there was "no need" for talks with American President Joe Biden.

— Natasha Turak

Germany and the U.S. will send advanced anti-aircraft systems to Ukraine this month to help it defend itself against drone and missile attacks from Russia, Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov said.

"There is a U.S. decision to supply us with a very well-known NASAMS system, the first few batches. Our specialists are already being trained. And they will be delivered this month," Reznikov said on Ukrainian television.

NASAMS are ground-based, short to medium-range air defense systems built by U.S. arms giant Raytheon and Norway's Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace. They are designed to take out unmanned and fixed-wing aircraft, helicopters, and cruise missiles among other things.

Reznikov said Germany would send Ukraine its IRIS-II air defense system this month.

— Natasha Turak

Since Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24, there have been at least 620 attacks on vital health services in the country, the World Health Organization's Surveillance System for Attacks on Health Care estimates.

The organization reports that healthcare facilities were damaged 538 times, ambulances were targeted in 82 cases and at least 154 attacks affected crucial medical supplies. The group also estimated that attacks on health services led to at least 100 deaths and 129 injuries.

The Kremlin has previously denied that it targets civilian infrastructure like hospitals, schools and apartment buildings.

— Amanda Macias

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Friday that Turkey and Russia have instructed their respective energy authorities to immediately begin technical work on a Russian proposal that would turn Turkey into a gas hub for Europe.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has floated the idea of exporting more gas through the TurkStream gas pipeline running beneath the Black Sea to Turkey after gas deliveries to Germany through the Baltic Sea's Nord Stream pipeline were halted.

Erdogan said Russian and Turkish energy authorities would work together to designate the best location for a gas distribution center, adding that Turkey's Thrace region, bordering Greece and Bulgaria, appeared to be the best spot.

"Together with Mr. Putin, we have instructed our Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources and the relevant institution on the Russian side to work together," Erdogan was quoted as saying. "They will conduct this study. Wherever the most appropriate place is, we will hopefully establish this distribution center there."

"There will be no waiting," Erdogan said in his first statement on the Russian proposal.

The Turkish leader made the comments on Thursday on his return from a regional summit in Kazakhstan where he met with Putin. His words were reported by Hurriyet newspaper and other media.

— Associated Press

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy marked Ukraine's Defenders Day holiday by promising victory over Russia and freedom for Ukraine.

In a video address delivered on hills outside the capital Kyiv, Zelenskyy thanked Ukraine's armed forces for defending their country. He said everything that had been taken away from Ukraine would be returned, and no soldier left in captivity.

"By defeating this enemy, we will respond to all enemies who encroached on Ukraine - on those who lived, who live and who will live on our land. This will be a victory for all our people. This will be a victory for the Armed Forces of Ukraine," Zelenskyy said.

"The world sees that Ukrainians do not lose their humanity under any circumstances. The enemy can strike at our cities, but never at our dignity," Zelenskyy added, marking the Oct. 14 public holiday.

— Text by Reuters and photos by Sergei Supinsky | AFP | Getty Images

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 appears to have confirmed that his company SpaceX will no longer fund donated Starlink internet terminals in Ukraine.

He 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

Kamikaze drones and missiles hit north and south Ukraine; Kremlin denies Putin discussed war ‘settlement’