(MERRITT ISLAND, Fla.) — The Artemis I rocket is set for launch early Wednesday morning, the latest attempt to send an unmanned capsule near the moon after a series of postponements due to weather and mechanical issues.
NASA pushed back a takeoff scheduled for Monday after Hurricane Nicole made landfall about 85 miles south of Cape Canaveral, Florida.
The rocket, which remained on the launchpad at the Kennedy Space Center during the storm, sustained “minor” damage that would be easy to repair, Jim Free, associate administrator for NASA’s Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate, said in a press conference Friday.
The launch marks the first step in an ambitious plan to establish a long-term presence on the moon for scientific discovery and economic development. Eventually, the Artemis expedition could lead to the first crewed space trip to Mars, according to NASA.
The space capsule will travel for roughly 25 days — reaching as close as 60 miles from the moon, and then 40,000 miles above the moon when orbiting over its dark side — before splashing down in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of San Diego on Dec. 11.
If Artemis is declared ready, a two-hour window will open at 1:04 a.m. ET. If needed, the back-up windows are Saturday, Nov. 19, and Friday, Nov. 25. NASA will broadcast the launch on NASA TV.
The mission has suffered a series of setbacks since an original launch date that was expected to feature Vice President Kamala Harris in attendance among about 100,000 spectators.
NASA called off that initial takeoff, set for Aug. 29, after a defective sensor prevented one of the rocket’s engines from cooling down to a temperature required before ignition.
Days later, a second launch attempt on Sept. 3 was scrubbed after the space agency identified a liquid hydrogen leak.
A third planned launch attempt, on Sept. 27, faced postponement due to Hurricane Ian. The rocket was moved off the launchpad to protect it, as Ian wrought destruction along its path northward from Florida to the Carolinas.
On the whole, the Artemis expedition includes four missions, each of which will cost roughly $4.1 billion. In all, the project will cost up to $93 billion by 2025, according to an audit from the NASA Office of the Inspector General.
If Artemis I is successful, Artemis II will take four astronauts near the moon in 2024. After that, Artemis III will take a crewed spacecraft for a moon landing. Finally, Artemis IV will fly to a space station near the moon.
Over the course of the Artemis missions, NASA plans to eventually send the first female astronaut and the first astronaut of color to the moon.
NASA hopes the Artemis expedition will enable a crewed trip to Mars in the ensuing years.
Kate Winslet has opened up her heart — and her purse — to come to the rescue of a Scottish family plagued by bills stemming from a 12-year-old girl’s life support equipment.
BBC Scotland reports the family of Freya Hunter was threatened with a massive heating and power bill, thanks to rising home heating fuel and electricity costs. The cerebral palsy patient requires an oxygen generator and other machines to keep her alive.
Her mother Carolynne started a GoFundMe to try to ease the burden on the Tillicoultry family and get the government’s help for others who may be imperiled as winter approaches and U.K. residents potentially face blackouts and bills as high as 73% over normal.
Hunter admitted she already has to go without heat in many rooms in her home just to keep her daughter’s room warm.
Winslet heard the news and kicked in £17,000 — about 20 grand in U.S. dollars — to cover the Hunters’ heating and energy bill for the year. As shocked as Carolynne was, she told the news agency she was even more surprised that the Oscar and Emmy winner got in touch to pass along well wishes.
“When I heard about the money I just burst into tears – I thought it wasn’t even real. I’m still thinking, ‘Is this real?'” she exclaimed.
Hunter also added, “I’m going to be helped but what about everyone else? I wanted the government to pay for it and do the right thing — it shouldn’t have to be a celebrity that steps in.”
Nickelback has premiered a new song called “High Time,” a track off their upcoming album, Get Rollin’.
In case you couldn’t guess what the “High Time” is about from its title, the tune opens with the sound of a lighter being lit and someone coughing.
You can listen to “High Time” now via digital outlets and watch its accompanying lyric video streaming now on YouTube.
Get Rollin’, Nickelback’s 10th studio effort and the follow-up to 2017’s Feed the Machine, arrives this Friday, November 18. It also includes the previously released songs “San Quentin” and “Those Days.”
Earlier this week, it was announced that Nickelback will be inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame. The group, which hails from Hanna, Alberta, will officially be enshrined during the 2023 Juno Awards, taking place March 13.
(NEW YORK) — Elon Musk’s takeover of Twitter late last month as CEO has ignited a public conversation about whether the billionaire will obstruct or encourage free speech on the social media platform, which has about 240 million active users worldwide.
An early sign of Musk’s direction may be evident by his inner circle, the center of which stands Alex Spiro, his personal attorney. Known as a powerhouse attorney representing world-renowned celebrities and athletes, Spiro is also a staunch free speech advocate, particularly in cases that intersect hip-hop music and criminal justice reform.
Concerns over the future of free speech on Twitter have come largely from Musk’s own posts since he took control of the company. Although he has said that existing laws protect Twitter from hate speech, he has said Twitter cannot be “considered inclusive or fair if it is biased against half the country,” which has made some worry that leniency toward extreme voices may be in the platform’s future.
A flood of fake accounts impersonating public figures and brands overtook the platform last week after the launch of paid verification badges, raising fears about the supercharged spread of misinformation. Musk himself posted a link to a story about a baseless conspiracy theory about the recent attack on Paul Pelosi, the husband of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Musk later took the tweet down. Musk has also said that accounts impersonating others will not be tolerated unless they clearly state they are parody accounts.
Spiro declined to discuss Musk or Twitter for this story, but he did tell ABC News that free speech “is a core, fundamental belief” of Spiro’s that has guided his career, which started when he was a prosecutor in Manhattan with the New York County District Attorney’s Office.
“I’m hoping that free speech in music is something we could all get behind,” he told ABC News.
A “mirror” of Musk
Spiro met Musk in 2019 when representing him in a defamation lawsuit by British cave diver Vernon Unsworth, in which the Tesla CEO had called Unsworth a “pedo guy.” Spiro won that case on Musk’s behalf, arguing that Musk was ultimately trying to fund efforts to save a group of Thai teenagers who were trapped in a cave and saying the comment was a “throwaway insult” after Unsworth tried unsuccessfully to characterize him as a “billionaire bully.”
“The First Amendment does not [just] protect compliments and happy speak, it protects unfavorable speech. It protects all speech,” Spiro said in a recent Original Jurisdiction podcast interview. “If we start policing speech, where are we? We’re in a bad place in our society and in our world.”
After that, Spiro continued to represent Musk in various legal battles, including continuous investigations by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, one involving Musk’s appeal to a $40 million SEC settlement for alleged securities fraud. Bill Burck, a co-managing partner of Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, who helped recruit Spiro to the firm in 2016, said Musk required an attorney who was also a personal confidante.
Musk “clearly thinks outside of the box and he follows the beat of his own drum, and he looks for intellectual courage and extreme dedication,” Burck told ABC News. “Alex mirrors that. He is probably one of the very few people who can keep up with the ideas and not be hamstrung or straightjacketed by the perceived wisdom. That’s probably the larger reason why he has clearly gotten Musk’s trust in a way that very few other lawyers have.”
Even in his early days, fresh out of Harvard Law School and working as a prosecutor in New York, Spiro demonstrated the strength required “to tell clients the truth,” said attorney Elliot Felig, who worked with Spiro in 2009 when both were prosecutors at the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office.
“Alex is the most confident courtroom attorney I’ve ever seen. Beyond that, he had a thirst for trying cases that was unparalleled,” he told ABC News. “I think Elon Musk has a fearlessness and I suspect Alex is a good match.”
Spiro, 39, was born in New York City but grew up in Boston. Early in his career, he worked at Harvard’s McLean Hospital where he helped run a program for children with autism and Asperger’s syndrome until he realized he could do more for their plight through the justice system. “I went to law school sort of by accident,” he told the Original Jurisdiction podcast audience.
His interest in psychology served him well early in his life when it became clear he could relate to not just clients, but jurors from all walks of life, Felig said.
“The best prosecutors love being on trial and Alex loved being on trial. He wanted trials. He would go door to door looking for trials,” he said. “The desire he had was innate. You can’t teach it. It’s a competitive spirit that some professional athletes have. They love the competition.”
Working to decriminalize rap lyrics
Along the way, Spiro became a serious advocate for hip-hop artists who he believed were unfairly having their music and lyrics weaponized against them in court by criminal prosecutors. He told ABC News his interest in overturning wrongful convictions originated from observing prosecutors using the YouTube rap videos of defendants to characterize them as dangerous in order to have a judge deny their bail. The trend, he said, struck him as “particularly problematic and a hill to die on.”
He ended up representing prominent hip-hop artists, including Jay-Z, 21 Savage, Meek Mill, Chance the Rapper and others, earning the title of “hip-hop’s most sought-after criminal justice attorney” by Billboard. He defended Brooklyn rapper Bobby Shmurda, then on trial for gang conspiracy charges, in 2016, and remains the lead attorney for Jay-Z and his Roc Nation roster of artists — a designation that required defending 21 Savage, who was arrested in 2019 for alleged immigration violations. (The case is still pending).
Along the way, Jay-Z enlisted Spiro to lead several criminal justice reform cases that had nothing to do with the music industry, such as filing a complaint in 2020 with the U.S. District Court in Greenville, Mississippi, on behalf of 29 inmates who authorities said were involved in a spate of violence that left five prisoners dead. Spiro argued that the deaths instead resulted from years of staff shortages and neglect in the state prison system.
Spiro also frequently partners with Erik Nielson, a liberal arts professor at the University of Richmond who has written extensively about hip-hop, to advocate for legislation to limit the use of rap lyrics used against defendants in criminal trials. Their work helped a law pass in California, and a similar bill is pending in both New York and New Jersey. Spiro co-wrote the bill and helped get stars such as Jay-Z, Killer Mike, Big Sean, and others to sign letters of support. A similar bill, the Restoring Artistic Protection Act, is working its way through the U.S. House of Representatives.
His advocacy originated in the case of Pittsburgh rapper Jamal Knox, who was found guilty in 2013 of threatening two police officers in his song, “F— the Police.” Nielson said there are hundreds of cases like Knox’s, and he and Spiro — who works pro bono on cases involving the legislation — talk regularly about which potential cases could use their support.
“One thing about Alex is he really does walk the walk. He can achieve a lot in a very short period of time,” Nielson told ABC News. “He’s been an invaluable advocate of serious issues involving rap artists. He is driven and he is very effective, and so I can understand why someone like Elon Musk would rely on him.”
Adam Lambert is looking back at his American Idol audition and admits his life would have looked very different had he not chose to perform Queen‘s “Bohemian Rhapsody.”
“What I remember is that I went in there singing a Michael Jackson song, and the judges kind of looked at me like they weren’t sure about it. They weren’t really feeling it,” Lambert told ET Canada. He had no intentions of leaving the audition without a golden ticket, so he offered to sing “Bohemian Rhapsody.”
“If I hadn’t have picked that, I don’t know if the past decade would have looked like how it looked,” Lambert said. “It’s kind of one of those fate things where you have to give fate… a little nudge, but something stepped in and took care of me.”
“It was an interesting time [in my life] because I was 27 and I had been doing theatre in L.A… But it slowly started one of like fantasizing about like, ‘Oh, I want to be an artist. I want to do this like outside of theatre. I want to make my own music. I want to write my own music,'” he added.
Lambert also toyed with the idea of which Idol judge would make a great duet partner. “I want to hear Simon [Cowell] sing. Because I bet he can’t,” Adam laughed, adding Randy Jackson would be “really fun” to sing with.
But there’s only one judge he had in mind. “It’s got to be Paula [Abdul],” he said. “She’s amazing.” Lambert also entertained the idea of duetting with former judge Mariah Carey, though she came to the judges table “after my time.”
Lambert finished as runner-up in the 2009 season of Idol, losing to Kris Allen.
(NEW YORK) — People who smoke marijuana were more likely to have certain types of lung damage than people who smoked cigarettes, according to a new study that reviewed lung scans of smokers. The researchers who led the study say their findings suggest smoking marijuana may be more harmful than people realize.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates at least one-fifth of Americans have tried marijuana at least once. With more states legalizing the drug, it has become the most commonly used drug that is still illegal at a federal level.
Some health effects, such as brain development issues, high blood pressure, and increased risk of heart attacks and strokes, have been studied. However, according to Dr. Albert Rizzo, lung doctor and chief medical officer of the American Lung Association, “We don’t know the long-term effects of marijuana as we do for the long-term effects of tobacco.”
Researchers from Ottawa Hospital General in Canada compared approximately 150 lung scans from marijuana smokers, tobacco-only smokers and nonsmokers. The study found that rates of emphysema, airway inflammation and enlarged breast tissue were higher in marijuana than in tobacco smokers.
The scans showed that 75% of the marijuana smokers had emphysema. Slightly less than 70% of tobacco-only smokers had emphysema, while only 5% of nonsmokers had it.
Emphysema, a form of chronic obstructive lung disease (COPD), is the third leading cause of death in the U.S.
“There are air sacs in your lungs that are getting bigger than they should. As they get bigger, they are less efficient than they should be for gas exchange,” Rizzo said. The condition is caused by long-term exposure to irritants such as smoke, leading to irreversible lung damage.
“Marijuana smokers had more emphysema, a disease that causes difficulty breathing, than heavy tobacco smokers and nonsmokers,” said Dr. Giselle Revah, study co-author and cardiothoracic radiologist.
Doctors say there are several reasons marijuana might cause more lung damage than tobacco.
“Marijuana smokers breathe in more deeply, and they hold their breath longer, before they exhale. You combine the irritating effect of longer exposure and deeper inhalation of these toxins,” Rizzo said.
Tobacco smoke is also filtered, but marijuana smoke is not. All of these factors contribute to inflammation and irreversible damage, doctors say.
“Anything you inhale that could irritate the lungs would not be advisable, so I would recommend they stop,” Rizzo said. However, he recognizes that some users have medical necessity — for those individuals, he recommends a discussion with your doctor, who may be able to convert you to another, safer form of the drug, such as an ingestible form.
“There is a public perception that marijuana is safe. This study signals that marijuana could be more harmful than people realize,” Revah said.
Alicia Zellmer, M.D., and Joy Liu, M.D., are resident physicians in Internal Medicine and members of the ABC News Medical Unit.
(MOSCOW, Idaho) — Four University of Idaho students were killed in “an isolated, targeted attack” with an “edged weapon” like a knife, police revealed on Tuesday.
The students, who were found dead on Sunday, were identified by the Moscow, Idaho, police as: Ethan Chapin, 20, of Conway, Washington; Madison Mogen, 21, of Coeur d’Alene, Idaho; Xana Kernodle, 20, of Avondale, Arizona; and Kaylee GonCalves, 21, of Rathdrum, Idaho.
Moscow police Capt. Anthony Dahlinger told the Idaho Statesman that all four students are considered victims, not suspects.
“We certainly have a crime here, so we are looking for a suspect,” he told the newspaper.
No one is in custody but police said they believe there’s “no imminent threat to the community.”
The victims were found at an off-campus house around noon on Sunday when officers responded to a report of an unconscious person, according to police. When officers arrived, they found the four students dead, police said.
Police said they’re working to “re-create the victims’ activities” on Saturday night and early Sunday morning.
The fatalities appear to be a “one-off type of situation,” Moscow Mayor Art Bettge told ABC News on Monday.
“Something had occurred that resulted in these deaths — there was no robbery,” he said.
The weapon wasn’t found at the scene, police added.
Chapin, a freshman, was in the Sigma Chi fraternity and was majoring in recreation, sport and tourism management, university president Scott Green said.
Mogen, a senior, and Kernodle, a junior, were both marketing majors in the Pi Beta Phi sorority, Green said.
Goncalves, a senior, was majoring in general studies and was in the Alpha Phi sorority, Green said.
“Words cannot adequately describe the light these students brought to this world or ease the depth of suffering we feel at their passing under these tragic circumstances,” Green said in a statement. “The university is working directly with those affected and is committed to supporting all students, families and employees as this event undeniably touches all of us.”
The police department said it’s “deeply saddened for the families of these individuals, fellow students and friends, and our community during this time. Our heartfelt sympathies go out to each and every person affected by this incident.”
Anyone with information is asked to call the Moscow Police Department at 208-882-2677.
ABC News’ Marilyn Heck and Nicholas Cirone contributed to this report.
AFI has announced a one-off concert celebrating the 20th anniversary of the band’s 2003 album, Sing the Sorrow.
The show will take place March 11, 2023 — exactly 20 years after the record was originally released — at the Kia Forum in Los Angeles, and will feature a performance of Sing the Sorrow in full “for the first and last time ever.”
Tickets go on sale this Friday, November 18, at 10 a.m. PT, with various pre-sales throughout the week. For more info, visit AFireInside.net.
Sing the Sorrow is AFI’s sixth album; it earned the band their first-ever top-10 album on the Billboard 200. The Platinum-certified record spawned the singles “Girl’s Not Grey,” “The Leaving Song Pt. II” and “Silver and Cold.”
The woman whose Mar Vista, California home was set ablaze when Anne Heche‘s car crashed into it last August is now suing the estate of the actress, who perished after the fiery wreck.
Page Six reports Lynne Mishele is seeking $2 million in damages, claiming she and her two dogs were nearly killed when Heche’s blue Mini Cooper “barreled through the front of her house and deep into its interior,” stopping “just feet away” from her, her two dogs, and a turtle.
What’s more, the resulting blaze, which led to the 53-year-old actress’ death, destroyed “an entire life’s worth of her personal possessions” in the home, according to the suit.
The legal filing claims that the “sudden and terrifying blast shook [Mishele] to her core,” and left the woman “traumatized…terrified of walking outside, and, atop that, without a place to live.”
Donny Brasco star Heche was trapped inside the car for 45 minutes as the fire consumed the home, causing the actress smoke inhalation and thermal injuries. She became comatose after being extricated from the wreck and never regained consciousness.
Results from a blood draw completed after the crash showed Heche had narcotics in her system, which was referenced in the suit, according to the publication. The actress had been public during her life about her struggles with sobriety.
Heche was declared brain dead on August 11 and subsequently taken off life support on Sunday, August 14, after some of her organs were harvested for donation.
(NEW YORK) — More than six months after Russian President Vladimir Putin launched an invasion into neighboring Ukraine, the two countries are engaged in a struggle for control of areas throughout eastern and southern Ukraine.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, whose forces began an offensive in August, has vowed to take back all Russian-occupied territory. But Putin in September announced a mobilization of reservists, which is expected to call up as many as 300,000 additional troops.
Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:
Nov 15, 9:22 AM EST
Kyiv hit with a series of missile strikes
There have been a series of Russian missile strikes on Kyiv, with the city’s mayor, Vitaliy Klitchko, saying two residential buildings have been hit and several missiles were shot down by air defense.
So far there are no details on casualties; however, unverified videos circulating show an apartment block engulfed in flames.
Nov 14, 3:17 PM EST
International Atomic Energy Agency to dispatch security missions to 3 nuclear plants
The International Atomic Energy Agency will send security missions to three nuclear plants in Ukraine, the agency announced Monday.
Safety and security experts will be dispatched to the South Ukraine, Khmelnytskyi and Rivne Nuclear power plants following a request from Ukraine, the IAEA said in a statement. A security mission will also be conducted at the Chernobyl site, said IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi.
The IAEA already has a team of experts continuously present at the country’s largest such facility, the Zaporizhzhya plant, and has been carrying out safety measures and checks at three other locations in Ukraine at the request of the Ukrainian government following allegations by the Russian Federation about activities there, according to the agency.
“From the beginning of the war in Ukraine, the IAEA has been doing everything it can to prevent a nuclear accident with potentially serious consequences for public health and the environment,” Grossi said. “We have delivered nuclear safety and security equipment, produced impartial assessments of the situation, and provided technical expertise and advice.”
-ABC News’ Will Gretzky
Nov 14, 3:06 PM EST
UN General Assembly calls on Russia to pay reparations
The United Nations General Assembly has approved its fifth resolution this year that supports Ukraine and rebukes Russia, declaring that Moscow should pay for damages caused by its invasion.
The resolution, which 94 countries voted in favor of, calls for the creation of “an international mechanism for reparation for damage, loss or injury” resulting from the war.
The resolution was co-sponsored by Canada, Guatemala, Netherlands and Ukraine. China was among the 14 countries that voted against it. There were 73 absentations.
While not legally binding, General Assembly resolutions have been viewed by Western powers as a powerful messaging tool through the conflict, communicating worldwide opposition to Russia’s invasion.
-ABC News’ Shannon Crawford
Nov 14, 1:21 PM EST
US citizen among prisoners freed in liberated Kherson
A U.S. citizen has been freed from prison in Kherson, the southern city that Russia had occupied for about eight months, according to a member of Ukraine’s parliament.
Swede Merekezi was arrested in Kherson in July and had not been in contact with officials for “a long time,” Ukraine parliament member Alexandr Kovaliov said in a statement posted to Facebook on Monday.
Merekezi was in Ukraine to defend “our country’s independence” and will be heading home on Monday, Kovaliov said.
A spokesperson for the U.S. Department of State said they are aware of unconfirmed reports but declined to comment further due to privacy concerns.
“This once again proves the cohesion and hard work of our team,” Kovaliov said.
-ABC News’ Shannon Crawford and Will Gretsky
Nov 14, 6:31 AM EST
Zelenskyy visits Kherson after liberation
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenksyy on Monday visited Kherson, the southern city that Russia had occupied for about eight months.
He handed out awards and was seen speaking to soldiers and civilians. Video footage showed Zelenskyy waving to residents who waved at him from an apartment window and yelled, “Glory to Ukraine!”
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov declined to comment on the visit, other than to say that it was Russian territory.
-ABC News’ Joe Simonetti
Nov 13, 1:36 PM EST
Ukrainians celebrate Kherson liberation
Russian forces completed their retreat from the Ukrainian city of Kherson on Friday. Now, Ukrainians are celebrating the liberation.
Nov 12, 2:45 PM EST
Banksy mural unveiled in Ukraine
Renowned street artist Banksy debuted a new work in a war-torn Ukrainian town in the Kyiv region.
The anonymous British artist posted photos of a mural to Instagram on Friday in Borodyanka, which was liberated from Russian forces in April.
The piece, which depicts a young girl doing a handstand on a pile of concrete rubble, was painted onto the wall of a building destroyed by shelling.
Fans were taking photos of the work, as well as several others presumed to be by the artist, in the region on Saturday.
Nov 11, 3:15 PM EST
Satellite images show damage to bridge near Kherson
New satellite images from Maxar, a Colorado space technology company, show massive damage to Kherson’s Antonovskiy Bridge and other structures after the Russian withdrawal across the Dnipro River.
The bridge is the main way to cross over the Dnipro River near the city of Kherson.
Photos show several sections of the key bridge have been completely destroyed.
ABC News’ Stephen Wood
Nov 11, 10:54 AM EST
Russians leave Kherson Oblast, not just the city
Russian forces have retreated not just from the city of Kherson, but the rest of Kherson province that surrounds the city and lies north of the Dnipro River.
The Russian Ministry of Defense said that its 30,000 troops have now crossed to the other bank of the river, a figure that is in line with how many forces U.S. officials had estimated were in Kherson.
Russians claimed they are continuing to shell areas around Kherson that they’ve just left, which could be a concern for Ukrainian troops who will be in the range of Russian artillery fire while in the city.
Russia also claimed that fire damage is being inflicted on the accumulations of manpower and military equipment of the Ukrainian armed forces on the right bank of the Dnipro River.
ABC News’ Luis Martinez
Nov 11, 10:06 AM EST
Russia says withdrawal from Kherson complete
Russian forces have completed their retreat from the Ukrainian city of Kherson, the Russian Ministry of Defense said, saying the last of its troops crossed over to the other side of the Dnipro river.
In a statement carried by Russia’s state news agencies, the ministry said the withdrawal was completed at 5 a.m. Moscow time on Friday.
ABC News’ Patrick Reevell
Nov 10, 3:53 PM EST
Pentagon announces $400M in aid to Ukraine
The Pentagon announced a new $400 million defense package for Ukraine on Thursday.
The new aid will include four short-range Avenger air defense systems, which is a first for the packages approved for the war in Ukraine. It will also include more missiles for HAWK air defense systems, more anti-aircraft Stinger missiles, HIMARS ammunition, precision-guided artillery rounds and Humvees.
The Ukrainians will need some training on the Avengers, according to Deputy Pentagon press secretary Sabrina Singh, who did not give an estimate on when the systems might arrive and be ready to use.
With this latest drawdown, the U.S. has now committed more than $18.6 billion for the war since Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24.
ABC News’ Matt Seyler
Nov 10, 11:51 AM EST
US estimates 100,000 Russians killed or wounded in Ukraine
A new U.S. assessment estimates 100,000 Russians have been killed or wounded in the war in Ukraine, according to Gen. Mark Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
The U.S. last gave an estimate in early August that the number of Russians killed and wounded was between 70,000 and 80,000.
“There has been a tremendous amount of suffering, human suffering, you’re looking at maybe 15, 20, 30 million refugees, probably 40,000 Ukrainian innocent people who are civilians have been killed as collateral damage,” said Milley.
He added, “You’re looking at well over 100,000 Russian soldiers killed or wounded, same thing probably on the Ukrainian side.”
He pointed out that Russia invaded Ukraine with a force of 170,000 troops.
ABC News’ Luis Martinez
Nov 09, 12:54 PM EST
Oligarch close to Putin says Russian troop retreat was necessary
Russian oligarch Yevgeny Prigozhin, who runs the private military company Wagner, said Wednesday that Russia’s retreat from the key Ukrainian city of Kherson was painful but necessary.
Prigozhin, nicknamed “Putin’s Chef” due to his restaurant and catering businesses, said Russian troops had to withdraw from Kherson because they were nearly surrounded by Ukrainian forces and cut off from supply lines.
“Neither I, nor Wagner abandoned Kherson,” Pigozhin said. “Without question, it is not a victorious step in this war, but it’s important not to agonize, nor to fall into paranoia, but to make conclusions and work on mistakes.”
He praised Russian Gen. Sergey Surovikin for making the decision to withdraw Russian troops and saving the lives of thousands of soldiers.
ABC News’ Patrick Reevell
Nov 09, 11:32 AM EST
Russian troops retreat from key Ukrainian city
Russia’s defense minister and top commander in Ukraine announced Wednesday that Russian troops will pull back from the key city of Kherson in southern Ukraine.
Defense minister Sergey Shoigu said he accepted a proposal from Russian Gen. Sergey Surovikin to order Russian forces to retreat to the eastern bank of the Dnieper River, in effect abandoning the city of Kherson.
Surovikin said it was a “very difficult decision” and justified it as necessary to save the lives of Russian soldiers and to preserve their capacity for future operations.
“Besides that, it frees up part of the forces and resources, which will be employed for active actions, including offensive, in other directions,” Surovikin said in the televised meeting with Shoigu.
Kherson is the only regional capital the Russians have occupied since 2014. The city and the surrounding area act as a gateway to Crimea Peninsula, which was annexed by Russia in 2014.
Nov 09, 3:21 AM EST
White House denounces Griner transfer to penal colony
Brittney Griner, the WNBA star detained in Russia, has been transferred to a penal colony, a move decried by White House officials.
“Every minute that Brittney Griner must endure wrongful detention in Russia is a minute too long,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in a statement early Wednesday. “As the Administration continues to work tirelessly to secure her release, the President has directed the Administration to prevail on her Russian captors to improve her treatment and the conditions she may be forced to endure in a penal colony.”
Griner’s lawyers said in a statement that she was transferred on Nov. 4 from a detention center in Iksha. She’s now on her way to a penal colony in an undisclosed location.
“We do not have any information on her exact current location or her final destination,” the lawyers, Blagovolina and Alexander Boykov, said in a statement. “In accordance with the standard Russian procedure the attorneys, as well as the U.S. Embassy, should be notified upon her arrival at her destination.”
The White House said it had made a “significant offer” to Russian officials to “resolve the current unacceptable and wrongful detentions of American citizens.”
“In the subsequent weeks, despite a lack of good faith negotiation by the Russians, the U.S. Government has continued to follow up on that offer and propose alternative potential ways forward with the Russians through all available channels,” Jean-Pierre said in a statement.
She added, “The U.S. Government is unwavering in its commitment to its work on behalf of Brittney and other Americans detained in Russia — including fellow wrongful detainee Paul Whelan.”
ABC News’ Cindy Smith, Ahmad Hemingway and Tanya Stukalova
