Here's a summary of the latest developments...
A Russian submarine has reportedly been spotted off the French coast and escorted by the French navy. Reuters reports that the vessel was seen off Brittany.
Belarus has said that Russian troops will start arriving in the country in the coming days as part of its joint force. “Troops from the Russian component of the Regional Grouping of Forces will start arriving in Belarus in the next few days,” the Belarus defence ministry said.
Vladimir Putin said on Friday he believed the “partial mobilisation” of army reservists ordered last month would be completed in two weeks, boosting Russia’s fighting force. He told reporters after attending a summit in Kazakhstan on Friday that a total of 222,000 reservists would be called up, down from the 300,000 figure initially circulated.
Russian president Vladimir Putin has called for humanitarian corridors for Ukrainian grain to be closed if they are used for “acts of terror”. Speaking at a news conference in the Kazakh capital Astana he also said that there was “no need” for talks with US president Joe Biden.
The US and Germany are to deliver sophisticated anti-aircraft systems to Kyiv this month to counter attacks by Russian missiles and kamikaze drones, Ukraine’s defence minister said. Oleksiy Reznikov said Ukraine would take receive the IRIS-II air defence system from Germany in October.
A Ukrainian member of Kherson’s regional council has condemned Russia’s “evacuation” of the occupied city, saying it is in fact a “deportation”. The council member also said that it is an evacuation for collaborators, urging residents to go to Ukrainian-controlled territory if they can.
The International Committee of the Red Cross has responded to criticism from the Ukrainian government calling for “immediate and unimpeded access” to all prisoners of war. It comes after the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, accused the ICRC of inaction in upholding the rights of Ukrainian prisoners and called on it to visit Olenivka, a notorious camp in eastern Ukraine where dozens of Ukrainian POWs died in an explosion and fire in July.
Elon Musk’s SpaceX says it can no longer pay for critical satellite services in Ukraine, which it has labelled an exclusive. SpaceX is reportedly asking the US government to start paying instead.
That’s it from me for today. Thank you for reading.
Here’s Alex Hern’s report on Starlink from earlier:
Elon Musk’s SpaceX has said it cannot afford to continue to donate satellite internet to Ukraine and has asked the US government to pick up the bill, according to a report, as the relationship between the billionaire and Kyiv breaks down.
“We are not in a position to further donate terminals to Ukraine, or fund the existing terminals for an indefinite period of time,” SpaceX’s director of government sales wrote, in a letter seen by CNN.
In a separate letter reported by CNN, an external consultant working for the company told the Pentagon: “SpaceX faces terribly difficult decisions here. I do not think they have the financial ability to provide any additional terminals or service.”
Musk appeared to confirm that report on Friday morning, writing on Twitter that “nothing was leaked about our competitors in space launch & communications, Lockheed & Boeing, who get over $60B [from the US Department of Defence]”.
In another post, he tweeted: “In addition to terminals, we have to create, launch, maintain & replenish satellites & ground stations & pay telcos for access to Internet via gateways. We’ve also had to defend against cyber-attacks & jamming, which are getting harder. Burn is approaching ~$20M/month.”
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