(WASHINGTON) — The Trump administration announced deals on Thursday with pharmaceutical giants Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly that would lower the cost of GLP-1 drugs for many Americans, including those on Medicare.
The administration negotiated how much both the government and consumers would pay for the drugs, which are used to treat obesity and diabetes as well as other cardiometabolic conditions.
As soon as the public-private partnership TrumpRx launches, patients using the service will pay roughly $350 for a month’s supply of the injectable drugs, according to senior administration officials.
That price is set to scale down to $250 over the next two years for people paying completely out-of-pocket with no insurance.
Those using the daily pill versions of the drug, which yet to be approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, will have prices beginning at $150 for the starting doses, the senior administration officials said.
In comments from the Oval Office, President Donald Trump thanked the pharmaceutical companies and lauded the deal.
“This is a triumph for American patients that will save lives and improve the health of millions and millions of Americans,” he said.
Both companies are expected to come out with new GLP-1 pills that are set to be available starting sometime next year pending FDA approval.
The reported savings on what the government will be paying for the medications will help broaden the type of people eligible for the drug.
Those with severe obesity will soon be able to access the drug under Medicare. Medicare patients will have a $50 co-pay for the drugs and could see the new pricing as soon as mid-2026. Medicaid pricing and timing will be dependent by state as they opt in.
Currently, federal insurance programs cover Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy — one of the GLP-1s for people who are overweight and have heart disease — but there is no medication for obesity alone covered by Medicare.
“Until now, neither of these two popular drugs have been covered by Medicare for weight loss and they’ve only rarely been covered by Medicaid,” Trump said. “They’ve often cost consumers more than $1,000 per month and some a lot more than that. Americans have been spending as much as 520% for Zepbound and 1,400% more for Wegovy than patients in Europe.”
Under this announcement, people who are severely obese — considered to be a body mass index over 35 — will also be covered for the medications for a $50 co-pay, but it doesn’t include broad coverage for all people who are overweight or obese like many private insurance plans cover.
GLP-1 drugs currently cost roughly $500 out-of-pocket for those without insurance.
During the Oval Office announcement, a guest fainted, causing the press conference to be temporarily paused.
In a statement, Karoline Leavitt said the person who fainted was a representative of one of the pharmaceutical companies, adding that the “White House Medical Unit quickly jumped into action, and the gentleman is okay.”
In a statement to ABC News, Novo Nordisk said the person who fainted was not one of their executives.
“CEO Mike Doustdar and EVP, US Operations, Dave Moore were the only two Novo Nordisk representatives in the Oval Office. We hope the gentleman who suffered a medical incident today is okay,” the statement read.
The deal is another of the Trump’s administration’s “most favored nations” agreements with pharmaceutical companies, a deal that comes after the president signed an executive order in May ordering his administration to pursue the deals to reduce the price of drugs for Americans.
“Today marks a pivotal moment in U.S. health care policy and a defining milestone for Lilly, made possible through collaboration with the Trump administration,” David A. Ricks, Eli Lilly’s chair and CEO, said in a statement. “As we expand access to obesity treatments for more Americans and advance one of the most innovative obesity pipelines, we remain focused on improving outcomes, strengthening the U.S. health care system, and contributing to the health of our nation for generations to come.”
In a separate statement, Mike Doustdar, president and CEO of Novo Nordisk, said the deal will expand patient access and affordability.
“Unlike any other medicine in the GLP-1 class today, semaglutide is the only molecule whose respective FDA indications span obesity, type 2 diabetes, liver disease, kidney disease and cardiovascular risk,” the statement read. “Novo Nordisk has always worked to secure affordable access to our innovative medicines, and today’s announcement will bring semaglutide medicines to more American patients at a lower cost, Importantly, this also expands obesity medication access in Medicare, which will allow people living with obesity to access authentic Wegovy.”
Stephen M. Katz/The Virginian-Pilot/Tribune News Service via Getty Images
(VIRGINIA) — A Virginia jury found that an assistant principal acted with gross negligence when a then-6-year-old student shot his first grade teacher in a lawsuit filed over the 2023 shooting.
The jury awarded the teacher, Abby Zwerner, $10 million in damages, with award interest beginning on June 1, 2024.
The verdict comes after the jury began deliberations Wednesday afternoon in the high-profile civil case.
Zwerner was shot in January 2023 in her classroom at Richneck Elementary School in Newport News, Virginia. Her complaint alleged the school’s assistant principal at the time, Ebony Parker, failed to act after being informed multiple times that her student had a firearm on the day of the incident and did not let staff search him prior to the shooting.
Parker did not react as the verdict was read in court on Thursday.
Zwerner’s attorneys said they are “very happy with the outcome.”
“I remember just three years ago, almost to this day, hearing for the first time Abby’s story and thinking that this could have been prevented,” one of the attorneys, Diane Toscano, told reporters outside the courthouse in Newport News. “So now to hear from a jury of her peers that they agree that this tragedy could have been prevented.”
When asked about the payment of the damages, one of Zwerner’s attorneys noted Parker is insured under an insurance policy for the Newport News School Board, but noted there are pending post-trial motions.
The civil complaint, which was seeking $40 million in damages, alleged Parker acted with gross negligence and in “reckless disregard” for Zwerner’s safety and claimed Zwerner continues to suffer pain and emotional distress over the shooting.
The bullet went through Zwerner’s left hand, which she had lifted, and then into her chest, where it remains. She was initially hospitalized with life-threatening injuries, police said.
“Those choices that she made to treat Jan. 6, 2023, like any other day, even though a gun should change everything, is why we’re here,” Zwerner’s attorney, Kevin Biniazan, said during closing arguments on Wednesday.
Biniazan argued there were multiple opportunities for Parker to investigate and take immediate action after several school workers “sounded the alarm” about a possible gun in the school. He said the defense will attempt to play the “blame game” and point the finger at others on staff, but each of them had a “piece of the puzzle” while Parker “had the entire puzzle.”
“A gun changes everything. You stop and you investigate,” he said. “You get to the bottom of it to know whether that gun is real and on campus so you can deal with it. But that’s not what happened.”
On the millions in damages sought, Biniazan asked the jurors, “What number do you arrive at for somebody who didn’t want this and it’s been inserted into her life like a bullet fragment against her spine?”
During the defense’s closing arguments, an attorney for Parker said the case is about “real-time judgments, not hindsight judgments,” and the low likelihood that a 6-year-old boy would have a firearm that day and shoot his teacher.
“It was a tragedy that, until that day, was unprecedented, it was unthinkable and it was unforeseeable, and I ask that you please not compound that tragedy by blaming Dr. Parker for it,” the defense attorney, Sandra Douglas, said.
Zwerner testified during the trial, which began in late October, recounting the moment she was shot.
“I thought I had died,” she recalled on the stand. “I thought I was either on my way to heaven or in heaven. But then it all got black and so I then thought I wasn’t going there.”
“My next memory is, I see two co-workers around me, and I process that I’m hurt, and they’re putting pressure on where I’m hurt,” she continued.
Parker did not testify during the trial.
Three other defendants initially listed in Zwerner’s complaint — two school administrators and the Newport News School Board — were dismissed from the lawsuit ahead of the civil trial.
Zwerner and Parker both resigned following the shooting. Zwerner said she has since completed a cosmetology program but has not yet started working as her hand heals following her most recent surgery.
Parker has also been charged with eight counts of felony child abuse with disregard for life in connection with the shooting — one count for each bullet that was in the gun, according to the Newport News Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office. A trial on the criminal charges is scheduled to start this month.
The student brought the gun from home, police said. His mother, Deja Taylor, was sentenced to two years in state prison for child neglect in connection with the shooting, which she is currently serving. Taylor was also sentenced to 21 months in prison on federal firearm and drug charges, which she has since served.
Stephen M. Katz/The Virginian-Pilot/Tribune News Service via Getty Images
(NEWPORT NEWS, Va.) — A Virginia jury found that an assistant principal acted with gross negligence when a then-6-year-old student shot his first grade teacher in a lawsuit filed over the 2023 shooting.
The jury awarded the teacher, Abby Zwerner, $10 million in damages, with award interest beginning on June 1, 2024.
The verdict comes after the jury began deliberations Wednesday afternoon in the high-profile civil case.
Zwerner was shot in January 2023 in her classroom at Richneck Elementary School in Newport News, Virginia. Her complaint alleged the school’s assistant principal at the time, Ebony Parker, failed to act after being informed multiple times that her student had a firearm on the day of the incident and did not let staff search him prior to the shooting.
Parker did not react as the verdict was read in court on Thursday.
Zwerner’s attorneys said they are “very happy with the outcome.”
“I remember just three years ago, almost to this day, hearing for the first time Abby’s story and thinking that this could have been prevented,” one of the attorneys, Diane Toscano, told reporters outside the courthouse in Newport News. “So now to hear from a jury of her peers that they agree that this tragedy could have been prevented.”
When asked about the payment of the damages, one of Zwerner’s attorneys noted Parker is insured under an insurance policy for the Newport News School Board, but noted there are pending post-trial motions.
The civil complaint, which was seeking $40 million in damages, alleged Parker acted with gross negligence and in “reckless disregard” for Zwerner’s safety and claimed Zwerner continues to suffer pain and emotional distress over the shooting.
The bullet went through Zwerner’s left hand, which she had lifted, and then into her chest, where it remains. She was initially hospitalized with life-threatening injuries, police said.
“Those choices that she made to treat Jan. 6, 2023, like any other day, even though a gun should change everything, is why we’re here,” Zwerner’s attorney, Kevin Biniazan, said during closing arguments on Wednesday.
Biniazan argued there were multiple opportunities for Parker to investigate and take immediate action after several school workers “sounded the alarm” about a possible gun in the school. He said the defense will attempt to play the “blame game” and point the finger at others on staff, but each of them had a “piece of the puzzle” while Parker “had the entire puzzle.”
“A gun changes everything. You stop and you investigate,” he said. “You get to the bottom of it to know whether that gun is real and on campus so you can deal with it. But that’s not what happened.”
On the millions in damages sought, Biniazan asked the jurors, “What number do you arrive at for somebody who didn’t want this and it’s been inserted into her life like a bullet fragment against her spine?”
During the defense’s closing arguments, an attorney for Parker said the case is about “real-time judgments, not hindsight judgments,” and the low likelihood that a 6-year-old boy would have a firearm that day and shoot his teacher.
“It was a tragedy that, until that day, was unprecedented, it was unthinkable and it was unforeseeable, and I ask that you please not compound that tragedy by blaming Dr. Parker for it,” the defense attorney, Sandra Douglas, said.
Zwerner testified during the trial, which began in late October, recounting the moment she was shot.
“I thought I had died,” she recalled on the stand. “I thought I was either on my way to heaven or in heaven. But then it all got black and so I then thought I wasn’t going there.”
“My next memory is, I see two co-workers around me, and I process that I’m hurt, and they’re putting pressure on where I’m hurt,” she continued.
Parker did not testify during the trial.
Three other defendants initially listed in Zwerner’s complaint — two school administrators and the Newport News School Board — were dismissed from the lawsuit ahead of the civil trial.
Zwerner and Parker both resigned following the shooting. Zwerner said she has since completed a cosmetology program but has not yet started working as her hand heals following her most recent surgery.
Parker has also been charged with eight counts of felony child abuse with disregard for life in connection with the shooting — one count for each bullet that was in the gun, according to the Newport News Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office. A trial on the criminal charges is scheduled to start this month.
The student brought the gun from home, police said. His mother, Deja Taylor, was sentenced to two years in state prison for child neglect in connection with the shooting, which she is currently serving. Taylor was also sentenced to 21 months in prison on federal firearm and drug charges, which she has since served.
(NEW YORK) — One of the strongest geomagnetic storms of the year will create auroras in a large swath of the northern continental U.S., possibly even as far south as Oregon and Illinois.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Space Weather Prediction Center is tracking four “notable” coronal mass ejections [CME] — a sudden eruption of plasma and magnetic fields from the Sun’s corona — that occurred between Monday and Wednesday.
At least one of the CMEs is expected to arrive late Thursday into early Friday as a strong G3 geomagnetic storm, according to NOAA.
Two dozen states could see the northern lights, NOAA’s viewline map shows: Alaska, Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin, Illinois, Michigan, Indiana, Ohio, New York, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine.
Some of the northernmost states could continue to see auroras on Friday night, the map shows.
A geomagnetic storm watch will remain until Friday morning, according to NOAA. A G3-level geomagnetic storm could impact technology due to the impact on satellite operations — especially GPS technology, the Space Weather Prediction Center said.
Northern light displays occur when a solar flare interacts with the atoms and molecules in Earth’s atmosphere.
As the solar flare clashes with the upper atmosphere, it causes the atoms to emit a glow, creating a spectrum of light in the night sky.
The sun’s magnetic field reached its solar maximum phase of its 11-year cycle in October 2024, which has led to an increase in northern lights activity, according to NASA.
Intense magnetic activity caused by sunspots are expected to last through 2026, according to NOAA, and the best times to see the northern lights in the U.S. is between 10 p.m. and 4 a.m.
The Space Weather Prediction Center recommends traveling to the darkest location possible for the best viewing.
Smartphones and digital cameras are more sensitive to the array of colors and may be able to capture images of the auroras, even if not visible to the naked eye, according to NASA.
(LOUISVILLE, Ky.) — Nine people remain missing after a UPS plane departing Louisville Muhammad Ali International Airport in Kentucky on Tuesday crashed in a ball of flames, killing at least 12 people. Officials continue to search through half a mile of “charred, mangled” debris to find any additional victims, authorities said.
“It’s been a long 36 hours of tragedy,” Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg said at a press conference on Thursday.
UPS Flight 2976 crashed around 5:15 p.m. local time on Tuesday, according to the Federal Aviation Administration. The McDonnell Douglas MD-11 freighter plane was headed to Daniel K. Inouye International Airport in Honolulu, when the plane’s left engine detached after a “large plume of fire” erupted from the plane’s left wing, according to the National Transportation Safety Board.
The aircraft’s three crew members are believed to be among the deceased, Greenberg said. The coroner is working on identifying the other nine victims who were found, Greenberg added.
Authorities will now begin to move the debris, including the “charred, mangled metal,” to see if they can locate additional individuals, Greenberg said.
The nine missing individuals are believed to have been near the scene at the time of the crash, Greenberg said.
“Our hope is that we have located all the victims at this point, but we don’t know,” Greenberg said.
Two individuals who were hospitalized still remain in critical condition, Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear said on Wednesday.
During a briefing on Wednesday, the NTSB said the plane’s black boxes have been recovered and they will be sent to Washington, D.C., for analysis.
A probable cause of the crash has not been revealed, the NTSB said.
“The plane lifted off and gained enough altitude to clear the fence at the end of runway 17R. Shortly after clearing that fence, it made impact with structures and the terrain off of the airport property,” according to NTSB board member Todd Inman.
The NTSB is scheduled to provide an update on the investigation on Thursday afternoon.
Video captured the moment the plane — loaded with thousands of gallons of fuel for a long-distance flight to Hawaii — crashed, resulting in a large fireball.
Two businesses on the ground were impacted by the crash, Beshear said.
The FBI, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives are now assisting in the investigation, Greenberg said.
(NEW YORK) — Eli Lilly’s next generation of weight loss drugs appear to show promise, possibly leading to even faster weight loss and added health benefits, early trial results suggest.
The pharmaceutical company presented the results for its newer drug at the annual ObesityWeek conference on Thursday.
Known as amylin analogs, these drugs slow digestion and curb appetite, similar to the more well-known GLP-1 drugs, but act through a different hormone.
Amylin is a hormone that is co-secreted with insulin through the pancreas and helps regulate blood glucose levels, appetite and gastric emptying, which is the process of food moving from the stomach to the intestines.
These drugs can treat type 2 diabetes and obesity by imitating the body’s natural amylin.
While the effects are similar to Eli Lilly’s GLP-1 drugs, Mounjaro and Zepbound, some studies have suggested that amylin analogs may lead to a lower loss of lean muscle mess relative to fat mass.
Early trial results of Eli Lilly’s amylin analog, known as eloralintide, helped patients who were overweight or obese — with at least one pre-existing condition related to obesity and without type 2 diabetes — lose 9.5% to 20.1% of their body weight.
This was compared to patients who lost 0.4% when taking a placebo, according to the trial results, which were published in the medical journal The Lancet.
Patients who were treated with eloralintide also saw improvements in blood pressure, fat levels in the blood stream and markers of inflammation.
Eli Lilly said it will begin phase 3 clinical trials after the promising results, with the aim to enroll patients by the end of the year.
“Obesity is a complex condition, and no single treatment works for everyone. To truly address each patient’s needs, we need therapies with different mechanisms of action so that each person can receive the treatment that offers the best balance of effectiveness and tolerability for them,” Dr. Liana K. Billings, lead author of the study and director of clinical and genetics research in diabetes and cardiometabolic disease at Endeavor Health in Skokie, Illinois, said in a statement.
She added that the early trial results underscore “the potential of amylin receptor agonists to expand our therapeutic strategies and better serve individuals living with obesity.”
Eli Lilly is not the only drug company testing amylin analogs. Novo Nordisk’s version, called cagrilintide, led to about a 12% weight loss over 68 weeks in early, previously published studies.
Novo is testing a combination of cagrilintide and semaglutide — the latter of which is known under the brand name Wegovy — that produced about a 22% weight loss in people with obesity but not diabetesin a previously published, late-stage clinical trial.
(NEW YORK) — A federal appeals court on Thursday ordered a lower court to take another look at whether President Donald Trump’s criminal hush money prosecution in Manhattan deserved to be heard in federal court.
After Trump was convicted last year on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records, he sought to move the case into federal court from state court due to the Supreme Court’s landmark ruling last year granting the president immunity for official acts.
U.S. District Court Judge Alvin Hellerstein denied the request, concluding that Trump failed to show good cause for move after the jury had rendered its verdict.
On Thursday, a three-judge panel of the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ordered Hellerstein to reconsider.
“We cannot be confident that in doing so, the District Court adequately considered issues relevant to the good cause inquiry so as to enable meaningful appellate review,” the opinion said. For example, the District Court did not consider whether certain evidence admitted during the state court trial relates to immunized official acts or, if so, whether evidentiary immunity transformed the State’s case into one that relates to acts under color of the Presidency.”
Trump was found guilty last year of orchestrating an illegal scheme to influence the 2016 presidential election by directing his personal lawyer at the time, Michael Cohen, to pay $130,000 to adult film actress Stormy Daniels to prevent her from publicly discussing a long-denied sexual encounter with Trump, and then falsifying New York business records to cover up that alleged criminal conduct.
New York Judge Juan Merchan, on the eve of Trump’s inauguration in January, sentenced him to an unconditional discharge — the lightest possible punishment allowed under New York state law — saying it was the “only lawful sentence” to prevent “encroaching upon the highest office in the land.”
Trump is separately appealing his conviction in a New York appellate court, arguing that it was based on evidence the Supreme Court later decided should have been off limits.
(WASHINGTON) — Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced Thursday that she will retire at the end of her current term in Congress, starting the long goodbye as the California Democrat wraps up one of the most consequential legislative careers in U.S. history.
“I want you, my fellow San Franciscans, to be the first to know,” Pelosi said in a video message. “I will not be seeking reelection to Congress. With a grateful heart, I look forward to my final year of service as your proud representative.”
Pelosi’s term in Congress ends on Jan. 3, 2027.
Pelosi, 85, was the first woman elected speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives and the first woman to lead a major political party in either chamber of Congress.
She has represented part of the San Francisco area in the House since 1987. This is her 19th term.
“As we go forward, my message to the city I love is this: San Francisco, know your power,” Pelosi said in the video announcement.
For weeks, Pelosi had deflected questions about her political future, insisting her central focus was on ensuring that Prop 50 redistricting ballot measure passed in California. With that achievement in the rear-view mirror, Pelosi quickly made her plans clear that she will not seek another term in the House.
“I say to my colleagues in the House all the time, no matter what title they have bestowed upon me, Speaker, Leader, Whip, there has been no greater honor for me than to stand on the House floor and say, I speak for the people of San Francisco. I have truly loved serving as your voice,” Pelosi said in the video.
Pelosi’s rise Pelosi was elected as the first woman speaker in 2007 and elected again in 2019 — the only speaker in 70 years to have won the office twice after having lost the office when Republicans regained the House majority in 2010.
She led the House Democrats for 19 years, previously having served as House Democratic whip. She rose to prominence in 2002 after whipping the majority of the party against an Iraq War resolution that her mentor, then-Minority Leader Dick Gephardt of Missouri, crafted with President George W. Bush’s administration. She became minority leader when Gephardt stepped down to run for president.
“This is an historic moment,” she said in a speech after accepting the speaker’s gavel for the first time. “It’s an historic moment for the Congress. It’s an historic moment for the women of America.”
Her measured rise to power was characterized by her steady command of inside politics and her ability unite conflicting factions of Democrats in order to achieve legislative success.
Journalist Susan Page, the author of a biography about the House speaker, called Pelosi a “master of the inside game of politics and of being a legislative leader” in an April 2021 interview with ABC News’ “Powerhouse Politics” podcast.
Page revealed in her book that Pelosi originally planned to step down after the 2016 election but changed her mind after President Donald Trump was elected in 2016.
In 2019, Pelosi led the investigation that resulted in the third presidential impeachment in history following what the impeachment charges said were Trump’s alleged moves to solicit foreign intervention in the 2020 presidential election and withhold congressionally appropriated assistance to Ukraine.
Pelosi headed Trump’s second impeachment in 2021 after his supporters mounted a violent insurrection against the U.S. Capitol following the 2020 presidential election that Trump sought to overturn. She then led the House in creating a bipartisan select committee to investigate the Jan. 6 attack.
“I have enjoyed working with three presidents achieving historic investments in clean energy with President George Bush, transformed health care reform with President Barack Obama and forging the future from infrastructure to health care to climate action with President Joe Biden,” Pelosi said in a speech bidding farewell to the speakership in December 2022, notably leaving Trump off the list.
Nancy Patricia D’Alesandro was born in Baltimore, Maryland, on March 26, 1940 to an Italian-American family. Her father, Thomas D’Alesandro Jr., was a Democratic politician who represented Maryland’s 3rd Congressional District in the House and later served as mayor of Baltimore. Her mother, Annunciata M. “Nancy” D’Alesandro, was also involved in Democratic politics as an organizer.
She met Paul Pelosi at Georgetown University in 1961. The couple married in 1963 and had five children. Pelosi raised their children in San Francisco and started a Democratic Party club at her home, until she began working for the presidential campaign of California Gov. Jerry Brown in 1976, when she was 36.
By 1981, she was the Democratic Party chair for the state of California.
In 1987, Pelosi won a special election for California’s then-5th Congressional District which encompassed most of the city of San Francisco. Pelosi advanced through the ranks of the House Democratic Caucus to be elected House minority whip in 2002. She was elevated to House minority leader the following year, becoming the first woman to hold each of those positions in either chamber of Congress.
In October 2022, Paul Pelosi was the victim of an attack at the couple’s San Francisco home. The assailant, later told authorities the attack was intended for Nancy Pelosi, according to a criminal complaint filed in federal court.
Following the loss of a Democratic majority in the House in November 2022, Pelosi said she would be giving up the gavel for the last time.
“History will note she is the most consequential Speaker of the House of Representatives in our history,” Biden said in a statement at the time.
(LONDON) — Ukraine appears at increasing risk of losing the city of Pokrovsk, an important stronghold in eastern Ukraine where its embattled defenders have held off Russia’s grinding assaults for more than a year and a half.
The devastated city — which was home to some 60,000 people before Russia’s February 2022 full-scale invasion — has become a key focus of the Kremlin’s yearslong push to capture all of Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk Oblast, which along with neighboring Luhansk Oblast makes up the Donbas region.
Although Ukraine for now is still maintaining a defense, the fall of Pokrovsk would be one of the most serious defeats Ukraine has suffered since March, when its troops were forced to retreat from Russia’s Kursk region.
Russia has for many months been attempting to encircle Pokrovsk and neighboring Myrnohrad from the north and south. Moscow’s forces are now close to cutting off the main roads into Pokrovsk, with its two key supply routes already under fire from Russian drones making it dangerous and difficult to bring in supplies and also threatening Ukrainian forces ability to withdraw.
In recent weeks, a growing number of Russian troops have advanced into Pokrovsk, with small groups using infiltration tactics to penetrate into the heart of the city, according to both Ukrainian and Russian military analysts.
Intense street fighting is now taking place inside Pokrovsk, with Ukraine’s commander-in-chief Gen. Oleksandr Syrskyi describing the situation as “difficult.”
“The enemy in Pokrovsk is paying the highest price for attempting to fulfill the Kremlin dictator’s task of occupying Ukrainian Donbas,” Syrskyi wrote in a post to Telegram on Saturday.
Ukrainians outnumbered, under fire Ukraine in recent days has launched counterattacks to push Russian forces back from the northern edge of Pokrovsk and keep a road there open to Myrnohrad.
Last weekend, for example, special forces troops under the command of Main Directorate of Intelligence (GUR) chief Kyrylo Budanov launched an audacious heliborne operation into territory that Russian forces claimed they already controlled. The GUR later uploaded video of the assault.
But the momentum in Pokrovsk appears to be with the attacking Russian forces. The city’s fall would be a blow to Ukrainian morale and would complicate its broader defense of the Donbas region.
There are also concerns in Ukraine that its loss could open a route for a Russian offensive towards the cities of Kostyantynivka, Kramatorsk and Sloviansk — the largest Donbas cities still controlled by Kyiv.
But military analysts who spoke to ABC News suggested that the fall of Pokrovsk alone would not necessarily imperil Ukraine’s forces holding the area.
“The Ukrainians could quite likely just as easily continue to defend outside Pokrovsk and Myrnohrad,” Pasi Paroinen of the Finland-based Black Bird Group open-source intelligence analysis organization told ABC News.
Though urban centers “usually make decent tactical defensive positions,” Paroinen added, “when you are already surrounded from three sides and your lines of communications have been cut off or are being disrupted as badly as they are right now over there, then those positions become liabilities, and they are just basically draining Ukrainian resources.”
A Ukrainian withdrawal may even improve Kyiv’s prospects, Paroinen said, assuming that new defenses have been prepared to the city’s west. If those new fortifications are not ready, “then they have a bigger problem than failing to hold Pokrovsk and Myrnohrad,” he said.
The Institute for the Study of War think tank suggested that Russia is unlikely to have the reserves to exploit Pokrovsk’s potential fall to advance rapidly to seize more of the Donbas region. Rather, Moscow’s mauled forces would likely have to continue their slow and costly forward grind, the ISW said.
Regardless, the situation is fraught for Ukrainian units still present in the city. The omnipresent threat of drones could complicate any Ukrainian retreat effort, which would likely see Kyiv’s troops attempt to break out to the west of the city using its under-fire supply routes.
If unable to retreat, large numbers of Ukrainian troops could find themselves cut off and potentially captured. To date and with the exception of the Russian siege of Mariupol in the early stages of the invasion, Kyiv’s forces have avoided being forced into mass surrender, even as they’ve gradually ceded territory in the east of the country.
The fall of Pokrovsk would also likely buoy Russian morale and send a signal that the war is going in its favor — a signal likely to be amplified by Russian state-aligned media and the Kremlin.
Moscow has amassed around 170,000 troops in the Donetsk region with a focus on Pokrovsk, according to remarks by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Friday — a signal, he said, of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s intent to capture the area.
Russia has not said how many troops it has deployed to the area. Ukrainian troops defending it are outnumbered eight-to-one, Zelenskyy said.
Visiting a command post in the Dobropillia sector — just north of Pokrovsk — this week, Zelenskyy said Ukrainian forces there are “defending Ukraine and our territorial integrity. This is our country, this is our East, and we will certainly do our utmost to keep it Ukrainian.”
Russian soldiers have already paid a high price. Ukraine’s General Staff said that, since the start of 2025, Moscow has lost some 200,000 soldiers who have been killed or wounded in Donetsk, most of them in the Pokrovsk and Kupyansk directions.
Russia does not release details about its casualties, making it difficult to independently confirm that figure. Ukrainian estimates of Russian casualties have broadly chimed with estimates from U.S. and European intelligence agencies since 2022.
A Russian victory in Pokrovsk will be welcome good news for the Kremlin as Putin maneuvers for advantage over his Ukrainian and American counterparts in anticipation of possible talks over a proposed ceasefire and eventual peace deal.
Russian Chief of the General Staff Gen. Valery Gerasimov last week sought to play up the significance of Moscow’s advance on the city, telling Putin that up to 10,000 Ukrainian soldiers were “encircled” in areas including Pokrovsk — a claim later denied by Ukrainian officials and even disputed by some Russian military analysts, and that most military observers say is currently false.
Fight or flight? The current situation in Pokrovsk is following a similar pattern as other embattled Donbas cities like Bakhmut in 2023 and Avdiivka in 2024. In all three, Russian forces edged forward over several months at staggering human cost despite a resolute Ukrainian defense, according to figures released by Kyiv. In Bakhmut and Avdiivka, Ukrainian forces were eventually forced to abandon the cities.
Zelenskyy and his generals have been criticized by some military bloggers and analysts in Ukraine and abroad for their perceived sluggishness in ordering retreats from doomed Donbas cities.
“The Ukrainians are committing to defending these towns, I would say, for too long,” Paroinen said. “The Russians are already too deep, and I think in too many numbers inside Pokrovsk for Ukrainians to be able to throw them out.”
Ukrainian political and military officials have repeatedly said that military — not political — considerations are front of mind, framing their defense of certain cities as a means to further bleed Russia’s attacking units. Others have argued for a nimbler “defense-in-depth” approach to preserve Ukrainian lives and conserve stretched resources.
“Defense-in-depth is not something the political leadership appreciates too much,” Oleksandr V. Danylyuk — an associate fellow at the Royal United Services Institute think tank in the U.K. and the chairman of the Center for Defense Reforms think tank in Kyiv — told ABC News. “That’s why I would rather expect the government to fight for as long as they can.”
“I think that potentially, Ukraine can actually keep the ground in Pokrovsk, in the same way as the ground has been kept in Chasiv Yar, for instance,” Danylyuk — who has previously served as an adviser to top Ukrainian military and intelligence officials — added, referring to the pivotal fortress city to the northwest where Ukrainian troops have been pushed back but retain a foothold after a yearlong Russian offensive.
“I’m not quite sure if Pokrovsk is of the same importance militarily as Chasiv Yar,” Danlyluk said.
“Personally, I don’t see any real military reason to actually fight for Pokrovsk,” he said. “I understand political reasons. I understand symbolic reasons. And I believe that it is doable. It’s just a matter of price. And I’m not quite sure if we need to pay the price.”
Oleksandr Merezhko — a member of the Ukrainian parliament representing Zelenskyy’s party and the chair of the body’s foreign affairs committee — downplayed the criticism of the decision to fight for Pokrovsk.
“I guess our military philosophy is to defend a particular point till the last opportunity, but at the same time to save people,” he told ABC News. “To make the Russians lose more of their soldiers and to save our soldiers.”
But influential military figures, such as Vitalii Deineha — the well-known Ukrainian volunteer and founder of the Come Back Alive Foundation — are already calling for Kyiv to abandon the city.
“The General Staff reports to the top contain more and more lies every day,” Deineha wrote in a post to Facebook. “In fact, we have practically already lost Pokrovsk, which means that holding Myrnohrad also makes no sense.”
“We should not be afraid of rating drops, because there will be no elections: next year there will be war again. And someone will have to fight it,” he added.
(NEW YORK) — One year out from the 2026 midterms, major Democratic Party names have been taking the show on the road, saying that they’re helping the party lay the groundwork to battle for the U.S. House.
They also might be preparing to run for president.
ABC News has tracked at least 24 visits by Democratic presidential hopefuls to the campaign trail in the key 2025 elections that Democrats swept — New Jersey and Virginia’s gubernatorial races, New York City’s mayoral election, and California’s redistricting ballot proposition election.
Separately, ABC News has tracked at least 43 visits or planned visits so far in 2025 and 2026 by Democratic presidential hopefuls to key early or battleground presidential election states. Some of those states are also expected to be key House battlegrounds in 2026.
The early and battleground state count excludes if the state is their home state and does not count multiple visits by the same candidate.
“Anybody who’s looking at the 2028 cycle is starting to head out on the road … Putting an emphasis on states that could determine control of the House is your best bet, and probably should be your only focus between now and the midterms,” Sawyer Hackett, a veteran Democratic strategist who worked on presidential campaigns for Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and Julian Castro, told ABC News.
2025 election states: New Jersey, Virginia, California, New York City
In New Jersey, Democratic candidate and U.S. Rep. Mikie Sherrill received support on the trail from a crowd of presidential hopefuls, including former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, former Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, Arizona Sen. Ruben Gallego, Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly, California Rep. Ro Khanna, Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar, Maryland Gov. Wes Moore, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker and Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.
And in Virginia, Democratic candidate and former U.S. Rep. Abigail Spanberger had the support of Beshear, Buttigieg, Emanuel, Gallego, Kelly, Khanna, Moore, Shapiro, and Whitmer.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom, former Vice President Kamala Harris, and Klobuchar separately stumped for “Proposition 50” in California, while Khanna and New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez stumped for Democratic mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani in New York City.
Key early states: Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina
Some of the presidential hopefuls have flocked to states with early nominating contests. The Democratic Party is currently reevaluating its calendar for when those early contests will occur, but Hackett said Democrats hoping to run are still covering their bases.
Iowa, which usually boasts first-in-the-nation caucuses, will host a closely watched Senate race next year. The state also has some competitive House seats.
Iowa hosted former Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz in March and Buttigieg for a town hall in May, while Gallego visited in August and Emanuel came by in September. Kelly is set to visit in November, while Maryland Sen. Chris Van Hollen spoke to Iowa Democrats in September.
New Hampshire, which holds the nation’s first presidential primaries and will hold a contested U.S. Senate race in 2026 for the seat being vacated by Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, has hosted several lawmakers. Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear visited earlier this month; Gallego and Khanna stopped by in August; Klobuchar was there in July and New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker will visit in November.
When Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker visited in April, he painted a dire picture for his party.
“Fellow Democrats, for far too long, we’ve been guilty of listening to a bunch of do-nothing political types who would tell you that America’s house is not on fire, even as the flames were licking their faces,” Pritzker said.
South Carolina, meanwhile, also has an early presidential primary. This year, it saw visits from Beshear, Khanna and Newsom in July — who told rural residents “what we’re experiencing is America in reverse.”
Kelly visited in September, while Maryland Gov. Wes Moore and Walz visited in late May for South Carolina Rep. Jim Clyburn’s “Fish Fry” event, which has often been fertile waters for would-be Pennsylvania Avenue hopefuls.
Both Walz and Moore have told ABC News previously they are not “running” for president or have no plans to run.
Battleground states: Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin
Several 2028 presidential hopefuls have also made their way around the seven battleground states, which have been considered winnable by either party and have an outsized influence on where campaigns place their resources.
A few potential candidates have or plan to pay visits to Arizona, including Ocasio-Cortez, who visited in March as part of the Fighting Oligarchy tour run by independent Sen. Bernie Sanders. Whitmer visited in March, while Booker visited in April and Buttigieg visited in October. Harris, who recently said she’ll “possibly” run for president again, will be speaking there in April 2026.
Arizona has two congressional seats currently held by Republicans viewed as competitive, according to the Cook Political Report.
Georgia is often the site of both a close presidential race and critical down-ballot races. Khanna visited in August, while Harris made a stop there on her book tour in October.
Further north, Moore and Khanna have paid visits this year to the battleground state of Michigan, where both President Donald Trump and Democratic Senate candidate Elissa Slotkin won in 2024.
Wisconsin, which had the closest margin between Trump and Harris in 2024 of the battleground states, saw visits from Klobuchar in March, Khanna in May, Walz in March and September and Whitmer in October.
Nevada, which also often figures early in the presidential primary calendar, saw visits this year from Ocasio-Cortez in March, Pritzker and Khanna in August, and Gallego and Kelly in September.
North Carolina saw visits from Pritzker in July and Buttigieg in September. Harris visited for her book tour there in October, while fellow Californian Khanna will drop by in November.
Pennsylvania is also a key battleground state. Moore delivered a commencement address at Lincoln University in Gettysburg in May, the same month Gallego and Khanna paid their own visits. Notably, two Republicans in Pennsylvania, Reps. Scott Perry and Ryan Mackenzie, are expecting to face fierce fights to hold onto their seats.
Khanna recently said the party’s focus is to win back control of the House, which has a Republican majority.
“We have already a number of great candidates for 2028 that’ll emerge, but right now the focus has to be to take back the House in terms of political priority,” Khanna told public media organization WHYY.
