Russia has launched a new military satellite into space after Vladimir Putin threatened to attack US commercial satellites and as the UN tries to avert an arms race in space.

The footage shows the Soyuz-2.1 launch vehicle being blasted into space at the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in north-western Russia on Wednesday, 2nd November.

The images were obtained from the Russian Ministry of Defence on Wednesday, 2nd November, along with a statement saying: “The Aerospace Forces launched the Soyuz-2.1b launch vehicle from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome.

“Today, from the State Test Cosmodrome of the Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation (Plesetsk Cosmodrome) in the Arkhangelsk Region, combat crews of the Aerospace Forces launched a Soyuz-2.1b medium-class launch vehicle with a spacecraft in the interests of the Russian Defence Ministry.

“The launch of the carrier rocket and the launch of the spacecraft into the calculated orbit took place in the normal mode. After launch, the Soyuz-2.1b launch vehicle was taken for escort by means of the ground-based automated control complex of the Main Test Space Center named after G.S. Titov.

“At the estimated time, the spacecraft was launched into the target orbit by the Fregat upper stage and accepted for control of ground-based facilities of the space forces of the Russian Aerospace Forces.

“A stable telemetry connection has been established and maintained with the spacecraft. The onboard systems of the vehicle are functioning normally. He was assigned the serial number “Cosmos-2563”.

“After the spacecraft was launched into orbit, officers of the Main Centre for Space Intelligence of the Space Forces of the Aerospace Forces entered information about it into the Main Catalog of Space Objects of the Russian Space Control System and began to analyze and process information about the new space object.”

We have not been able to independently verify the claims or the footage.

Last week, Russian President Vladimir Putin threatened to “strike” Western satellites that it accuses of helping Ukraine and also appeared to threaten to initiate retaliatory strikes against US commercial satellites – this is understood to be a thinly-veiled threat against Elon Musk’s SpaceX, which has reportedly donated over 20,000 Starlink satellites to Ukraine.

The new rocket launch also comes after the United Nations approved on Monday two draft resolutions on “international cooperation in the peaceful uses of outer space.” These included commitments to try to avert an arms race in space.

But representatives from the United States, the UK, Canada and the European Union took issue with any move by the United Nations that would acknowledge Russia’s desire to build its own space station, describing it as “inappropriate.”

Russia invaded Ukraine on 24th February in what the Kremlin is still calling a “special military operation”. Today marks the 253rd day of the war.

The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reported that between 24th February and 3rd November, Russia had lost about 74,000 personnel, 2,734 tanks, 5,552 armoured combat vehicles, 1,755 artillery units, 390 multiple launch rocket systems, 198 air defence systems, 277 warplanes, 258 helicopters, 1,442 drones, 397 cruise missiles, 16 warships, 4,162 motor vehicles and fuel tankers, and 155 units of special equipment.

Russia has claimed that its casualties have been much lower but provides infrequent updates on its latest figures.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has reversed course and said that Russia is now rejoining the UN-brokered grain export deal.

Putin said on Wednesday: “We demanded assurances and guarantees from the Ukrainian side that nothing like this would happen again, that the humanitarian corridors would not be used militarily.”

The move by Russia comes after a large convoy of ships transported a record amount of grain from Ukrainian ports in defiance of Moscow’s warnings that it would not be safe to do so without its participation.

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky has welcomed Russia’s U-turn, saying that it was a “significant diplomatic result to our country and the whole world”.

Zelensky added on Wednesday evening: “Implementation of the grain export initiative continues. The Kremlin is demanding security guarantees from Ukraine. This shows both the failure of the Russian aggression and how strong we are when we remain united.”

The United States has also welcomed the move, with State Department spokesperson Ned Price praising UN and Turkish mediators and adding that it was important that the deal was “not only set back in motion, but it’s renewed later this month.”

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken thanked Turkey in a statement for its efforts to ensure the continuation of the deal and reminded Russia of the “importance of continued adherence to UN-brokered agreements and its commitments to support global food security.”

Russia has said that it is committed to preventing a nuclear war and that preventing confrontation between countries with nuclear weapons was its top priority.

The Russian Foreign Ministry said that it feared that nuclear powers were “on the brink of a direct armed conflict” and that Western powers must stop “encouraging provocations with weapons of mass destruction, which can lead to catastrophic consequences”.

The United States has accused North Korea of secretly providing Russia with “a significant number” of artillery shells. The accusation comes amid increasing evidence that Russia is suffering from a shortage of key weaponry.

US National security council spokesperson John Kirby said that the White House believes that North Korea is “covertly supplying” weaponry to Russia while “trying to make it appear as though they are being sent to countries in the Middle East or North Africa”.

Moscow has said that it plans to summon Deborah Bronnert, the UK Ambassador to Russia, to address its unproven accusation that “British specialists” were involved in the Sevastopol drone attack on Russia’s Black Sea fleet.

This comes after Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova claimed that the UK was “deeply involved” in the attack on Sevastopol, according to Russian state-owned news agency TASS.