Category: US

Disgraced former South Carolina attorney Alex Murdaugh, who is on trial for murder in the deaths of his wife and son, was back on the stand Friday for more cross-examination from the prosecution.

Murdaugh has pleaded not guilty to two counts of murder and two weapons charges in the June 2021 killings of Margaret “Maggie” Murdaugh and 22-year-old son Paul Murdaugh at the family’s estate in Islandton, South Carolina.

Here’s what happened in court:

Lies to investigators: Prosecutor Creighton Waters continued to press Murdaugh about why he lied to police about where he was on the night of the murders. He first publicly confirmed he was at the kennels that night on Thursday after previously saying he was not at the scene of the killings.

He said various factors contributed to his “paranoid thinking” which led to his decision to lie to police, including his “distrust of SLED,” (South Carolina Law Enforcement Division), questions about his relationship with his wife and son, and “the fact that I have a pocket full of pills in my pocket,” he said. The prosecution played clips of the police interview.

Alibi: Murdaugh denied that he was trying to manufacture an alibi when asked about the series of phone calls, some of them to Maggie Murdaugh, after she and her son were killed. Waters was asking about what he was doing for a period of about four minutes before he left to go to his mom’s house.

“It’s an absolute fact that I’m not manufacturing an alibi, as you say,” Murdaugh said, and categorized the calls as “very normal.”

Connection to boat crash: Waters questioned Murdaugh about the idea a “random vigilante” could be involved in the murder of his wife and son. Murdaugh testified that he believed a fatal boat wreck that Paul Murdaugh was involved in was the reason for the killings. He then clarified that he did not believe anyone involved in the 2019 boat wreck had anything to do with the murders — but suspected it was someone who had heard about what happened.

Pill addiction: Murdaugh said he sometimes took more than 2,000 milligrams of oxycodone per day in the months leading up to the deaths of his wife and son.

According to Murdaugh, he would take “maybe 1,000 milligrams or 1,200 milligrams on a day I didn’t take as much or didn’t have as much, up to, I mean — there were days, many days, a lot of days, most days were more than that, and many days would be … more than 2,000 milligrams a day.” It is virtually unheard of for a doctor to prescribe a patient more than 100 milligrams of oxycodone a day for even the most severe acute or chronic pain.

The trial will resume at 9:30 a.m. on Monday.

CNN
 — 

Two people who received Pfizer’s respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) vaccine during a clinical trial were later diagnosed with Guillain-Barre syndrome, and the US Food and Drug Administration has asked Pfizer to conduct a safety study if the shot is approved, according to agency documents released Friday.

The cases were confirmed in two adults in their 60s who were among 20,000 vaccine recipients in Pfizer’s Phase 3 clinical trial. One person’s illness had completely resolved after three months, and another was improving after six months. There were no Guillain-Barre cases among people who didn’t receive the shot.

“Given the temporal association and biological plausibility, FDA agrees with the assessments of the investigators that these events were possibly related to study vaccine. … Therefore, [Guillain-Barre] is being considered an important potential risk,” the FDA says in the documents, which were released ahead of a meeting of its independent vaccine advisers, the Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee, on Tuesday and Wednesday.

The committee is scheduled to discuss and make recommendations on RSV vaccines for adults 60 and older from Pfizer and GSK.

Guillain-Barre syndrome is a rare neurological disorder in which the immune system attacks its own nerves, causing muscle weakness and sometimes paralysis. Although most people recover completely, some cases can be fatal or have lasting effects.

The incidence of Guillain-Barre is about 1.5 to 3 cases for 100,000 adults over age 60 in the US annually, according to the FDA.

“Given the higher than background rate of GBS observed in the Phase 3 study, FDA will recommend a postmarketing study and enhanced surveillance for further evaluation of GBS and other immune-mediated demyelinating conditions with postmarketing use,” the FDA says.

In a briefing document submitted for next week’s meetings, Pfizer says that the cases have other possible explanations and that its shot is a “well-tolerated and safe vaccine, with a benefit-to-risk ratio that is favorable.” The company says it will conduct a safety study on Guillain-Barre syndrome if its RSV shot is approved.

RSV is a highly contagious virus that causes flu-like illness in people of all ages that increases in severity with age. According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, RSV is responsible for an estimated 177,000 hospitalizations and 14,000 deaths per year among adults 65 or older.

There are no vaccines approved for immunization against RSV in either children or with adults.

The Pfizer vaccine was 66.7% effective at preventing moderated lower respiratory tract illness with two or more symptoms and 85.7% effective at preventing severe illness, the FDA documents say.

GSK’s RSV vaccine candidate for older adults was 83.5% effective at preventing severe lower respiratory tract disease. The company similarly reported a potential case of Guillain-Barre syndrome among vaccine recipients but said there was insufficient evidence to confirm a diagnosis. The FDA considers the case to be related to the vaccine and said it will review GSK’s safety plan.

Data from both vaccines was discussed Thursday during a meeting of the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices. The working group concluded that the vaccines “demonstrated significant efficacy against lower respiratory tract illness caused by RSV among older adults” but that “post licensure surveillance for both safety and vaccine effectiveness will be critical” if the vaccines are approved by the FDA.

CNN
 — 

After federal officials released an initial report concluding that this month’s toxic train wreck in Ohio was completely preventable, investigators will begin examining procedures, practices and design prior to the derailment that has sparked long-term concerns among hundreds of frustrated residents.

The National Transportation Safety Board on Thursday released its preliminary report on the investigation into the February 3 train crash in East Palestine, Ohio, where residents have been complaining about feeling sick after hazardous chemicals seeped into the air, water and soil.

Ohio environmental officials made a civil referral this week asking the state attorney general’s office to begin “legal and/or equitable civil actions” against train operator Norfolk Southern, which could result in a civil complaint if negotiations with the company were to fail.

The NTSB report found that one of the train’s cars carrying plastic pellets was heated by a hot axle that sparked the initial fire, according to Jennifer Homendy, the chair of the safety board. As the temperature of the bearing got hotter, the train passed by two wayside defect detectors that did not trigger an audible alarm message because the heat threshold was not met at that point, Homendy explained. A third detector eventually picked up the high temperature, but it was already too late by then.

“This was 100% preventable. … There is no accident. Every single event that we investigate is preventable,” Homendy said during a news conference Thursday. “The NTSB has one goal, and that is safety and ensuring that this never happens again.”

The next phase of the investigation will examine the train’s wheelset and bearing as well as the damage from the derailment, the NTSB report noted. The agency will also focus on the designs of tank cars and railcars along with maintenance procedures and practices.

Plus, investigators will review the train operator’s use of wayside defect detectors and the company’s railcar inspection practices. More specifically, determining what caused the wheel bearing failure will be key to the investigation, Homendy said.

On Friday, Homendy said on “CNN This Morning” that she’s concerned politics could cloud the investigation and prevent safety improvements. Former President Donald Trump visited the site of the train derailment on Wednesday where he criticized President Joe Biden’s administration’s handling of the railway disaster.

“This is not a time for politics,” Homendy said. “There is a time for politics. It is not this.”

On Thursday, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg also visited the derailment site, and when asked how political figures like Trump could help, Buttigieg addressed the former president directly saying he could “express support for reversing the deregulation that happened on his watch.”

Another key aspect of the investigation will focus on the response to the chemical disaster, particularly the manual detonations of tanks carrying toxic chemicals.

Five of the 38 derailed train cars were carrying more than 115,000 gallons of vinyl chloride, according to the NTSB’s report. Exposure to high levels of vinyl chloride can increase cancer risk or cause death.

Those five cars “continued to concern authorities because the temperature inside one tank car was still rising,” indicating a polymerization reaction which could have resulted in an explosion, the report said. To help prevent a potentially deadly blast of vinyl chloride, crews released the toxic chemical into a trench and burned it off on February 6 — three days after the derailment.

Since then, some East Palestine residents have said they are experiencing headaches, dizziness, nausea and bloody noses — a host of health issues they say they did not have prior to the crash.

At the same time, officials have been adamant in reassuring residents of the air’s safety and the municipal water supply.

Around 2 million gallons of firefighting water from the train derailment site are expected to be disposed in Harris County, Texas, according to the county’s chief executive.

Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo said her office was told by Texas Molecular on Thursday that the shipments began arriving around last Wednesday, she said.

Texas Molecular was hired to dispose of the potentially dangerous water from the train derailment, the company, which said it has more than four decades of experience in managing water safely, has told CNN.

The company told Hidalgo’s office Thursday that half a million gallons were already in the county.

Hidalgo expressed frustration that she first learned about the water shipments from the news media – not from a government agency or Texas Molecular.

“It’s a very real problem we were told yesterday the materials were coming only to learn today they’ve been here for a week,” Hidalgo said.

She added that although there’s no legal requirement for her office to be notified, “It doesn’t quite seem right.”

Texas Molecular is receiving the water from trucks, but it’s unclear if trucks are used for the entire trip, Hidalgo said. The company told her office they’re receiving about 30 trucks of water a day, she said.

CNN is seeking comment from Texas Molecular about how the water is being transported.

Hidalgo said her office is looking for information about the disposal, including the chemical composition of the firefighting water, the precautions that are being taken, and why Harris County was the chosen site.

“There’s nothing right now to tell me – to tell us – there’s going to be an accident in transport, that this is being done in such a way that is not compatible with the well, that there’s a nefarious reason why the water is coming here and not to a closer site,” Hidalgo said. “But it is our job to do basic due diligence on that information.”

A total of 1.7 million gallons of contaminated liquid have been removed from the immediate site of the derailment, according to a Thursday news release from the Ohio Emergency Management Agency.

More than 1.1 million gallons of “contaminated liquid” from East Palestine have been transported off-site so far, with the majority going to Texas Molecular and the rest going to a facility in Vickery, Ohio.

CNN has asked the Ohio agency the location of the remaining 581,500 gallons, which have been “removed” but not “hauled off-site.”

Congresswoman Debbie Dingell of Michigan said she was “not given a heads up” that contaminated soil from East Palestine would be transported to the US Ecology Wayne Disposal in Belleville, Michigan.

“We were not given a heads up on this reported action,” Dingell said in a press release on Friday, “Our priority is to always keep the people we represent safe.”

Dingell said inquires to the EPA, Department of Transportation, Norfolk Southern, US Ecology, the state of Ohio and others involved are in the process.

On Friday afternoon, Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine released an update on the removal of the contaminated site in East Palestine, saying that soil would be transported to Michigan.

So far, 4,832 cubic yards of soil have been removed from the ground in East Palestine. Approximately six truckloads of that contaminated soil are on their way to the hazardous waste disposal facility in Michigan, according to a news release from DeWine.

The 149-car train operated by Norfolk Southern on February 3 had three employees on board: a locomotive engineer, a conductor and a trainee who were all in the head end of the locomotive, Homendy told CNN’s Jake Tapper on Thursday.

So far, the investigation found the crew did not do anything wrong prior to the derailment, though the crash was “100% preventable,” Homendy said.

Video of the train before the derailment showed what appeared to be an overheated wheel bearing, according to the NTSB report. Footage showed sparks flying from underneath the train.

NTSB investigators are now focusing on one train car’s wheel set and bearing to figure out what may have caused the overheating, Homendy said.

“We have a lot of questions about that,” she said Friday, including the “thresholds and why they vary so much between railroads.”

Ultimately, it’s the railroads that set the temperature thresholds for the detectors, Homendy said.

Releasing publicly a probable cause or causes for the derailment could take 12 to 18 months, Homendy said during the news conference.

“We are very deliberative. We are the gold standard when it comes to investigations globally, and we are methodical in our approach,” Homendy said. “But if we see a safety issue that we need to be addressed immediately, something systemic, we will not hesitate to issue an urgent safety recommendation.”

In the meantime, here’s what the NTSB preliminary report found so far:

Even after reading the preliminary NTSB report, Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost told “CNN This Morning” that there’s still a lot of facts he doesn’t know.

Among his biggest questions are: “Had the train been shorter, had there been additional staff, could this have been averted? Based on the alerts that occurred, how long is the reaction time and how is that influenced by the size of the train?” Yost told CNN.

The US Environmental Protection Agency has ordered Norfolk Southern to cover the full cost of cleaning up the aftermath of the train crash.

“EPA has special authority for situations just like this where we can compel companies who inflict trauma and cause environmental and health damage to communities, like Norfolk Southern has done, to completely clean up the mess that they’ve caused and pay for it,” EPA administrator Michael Regan said.

Norfolk Southern will be required to:

If the company does not follow the order, the EPA will step in to complete the duties, while fining Norfolk Southern up to $70,000 a day, Regan said Wednesday during a CNN town hall.

“And the law gives us the authority to charge Norfolk Southern up to three times the amount that the cleanup will cost us,” he said.

The company plans to take a series of measures moving forward to minimize the long-term impacts of chemicals on the land and groundwater, including ripping up the tracks where the train derailed and removing soil underneath, Norfolk Southern CEO Alan Shaw said.

Shaw added his company is working with the Environmental Protection Agency on a “long-term remediation plan.”

Yost, who received the referral from the Ohio EPA to initiate necessary legal civil actions against Norfolk Southern this week, told CNN any criminal referral in Ohio regarding the derailment would be a decision made by local prosecutors.

“We’ve been in contact with the local county prosecutor, and … we may be assisting him, but at this point, he has not empaneled a grand jury, to my understanding,” he said Friday on “CNN This Morning.”

Ohio environmental officials made a civil referral Tuesday asking Yost’s office to “initiate all necessary legal and/or equitable civil actions” and “seek appropriate penalties” against Norfolk Southern, according to a copy of the referral provided by the attorney general’s office.

“I respectfully request that this referral result in the filing of a civil complaint in the appropriate court if efforts on your part to resolve this matter through negotiation fail,” Ohio Environmental Protection Agency Director Anne Vogel wrote in a letter to Yost.

Vogel cited potential violations of state laws regarding air and water pollution and solid and hazardous waste.

Expanding the definition of a high-hazard flammable train – a standard the derailed train did not meet, despite sparking a major fire – is among the changes NTSB advocated for in the past, Homendy said Friday.

NTSB urged regulators to include in the classification “a broad array of flammable materials,” rather than focusing on crude oil, she said.

Additionally, NTSB will look at whether vinyl chloride needs to be carried in more fortified cars, Homendy said.

CNN
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A slow-moving winter storm has struck the West Coast, flooding highways in Los Angeles and prompting rare blizzard warnings in Southern California.

In its first-ever blizzard warning, the National Weather Service in San Diego said the San Bernardino County mountains could see 3 to 5 feet of snow through Saturday morning.

Blizzard warnings were also issued for Los Angeles and Ventura counties through Saturday afternoon. Up to 5 feet of snow is possible with some isolated areas seeing between 7 and 8 feet. The National Weather Service’s Los Angeles office issued its last blizzard warning on February 4, 1989.

Heavy rain fell Friday afternoon in Los Angeles and flooding shut down numerous thoroughfares the area. The NWS issued a flash flood warning for the city – the second highest level of flood warning from the NWS, only topped by a flood emergency.

Up to 5 inches of rain could fall across lower elevations of the greater Los Angeles area while the mountains could see 6 inches. In the San Diego area, up to 3 inches of rain is possible in lower elevations while the mountains could get 7 inches.

Over 6 million people are covered by the flood warning, including downtown Los Angeles, Pasadena, Beverly Hills, Burbank and Santa Barbara.

“This storm system will be unusually cold, and snow levels will be very low. In fact, areas very close to the Pacific Coast and also into the interior valleys that are not accustomed to seeing snow, may see some accumulating snowfall,” the National Weather Service said early Friday.

“The worst impacts from flooding and blizzard conditions occur Friday afternoon through Saturday morning, when any non-essential or non-emergency travel should be postponed!” the San Diego weather service said.

The storm has put more than 20 million people under flood watches and more than 30 million people under high wind alerts across Southern California – roughly two months after the state endured rounds of deadly flooding. The highest gusts in the warning areas could reach 75 mph.

Up to 6 inches of snow is possible across lower elevations and up to 3 feet could fall on the region’s highest peaks before conditions begin to improve by Friday evening as the storm slips to the south.

The Sierra Nevada Mountains could see up to 6 feet of snow Friday into Saturday and in Nevada, a blizzard warning for northwestern Nye County will be in effect Friday morning through early Saturday.

“Heavy snow, winds gusting as high as 60 mph, will cause zero visibility due to blowing and drifting snow,” the weather service warned.

Snow has already hit the Santa Cruz Mountain, resident Ngugi Kihara told CNN on Friday.

“We never seen this much snow up here,” Kihara said. “We woke up to it. It started yesterday but picked up a lot overnight. Lots of trees are falling and all the roads around us are closed. Power is out and has been mostly gone since Tuesday.”

Power outages were already adding up in California late Friday, with nearly 99,000 customers in the dark, largely in the northern region, according to poweroutage.us.

As the storm struck the West, a ferocious, multiday winter storm began to subside after wreaking havoc in several states across the West, northern Great Plains, the Great Lakes region and New England.

Over 640,000 utility customers in Michigan are without power in the state, according to poweroutage.us and DTE, one of Michigan’s largest electric providers, said it won’t get most of its customers back online before Sunday.

Twenty percent of DTE’s customers were without power as of Friday afternoon, DTE CEO Jerry Norcia said in a press conference. This is more than 480,000 customers according to poweroutage.us.

By the end of the day on Friday, the company expects to restore power to 200,000 customers. By Sunday the utility hopes to bring nearly all customers back to service, Norcia said.

Wayne County is currently the hardest hit area with over 227,000 customers offline due to this week’s winter storm. Nearby Oakland County has another 112,000 without power.

The forecast low temperature in the Detroit area Friday night is 23 degrees, according to the NWS.

Several counties in Wyoming went into search-and-rescue mode after more than 40 inches of snow fell in the southern parts of the state over the course of several days and motorists were trapped in heavy snow, the state highway patrol said on Twitter.

Minneapolis, Minnesota, saw more than 13 inches in a three-day period this week. More than 160 vehicle crashes were reported statewide, and dozens of cars spun off roads Wednesday, a spokesperson for the Minnesota State Patrol said in a series of tweets.

Minneapolis officials have declared a one-day snow emergency beginning Friday, and city crews have been plowing and treating streets.

Since the storm began Monday evening, cumulative snowfall reached dozens of inches in some cities, including 48 inches in Battle Lake, Wyoming, 32 inches in Dupuyer, Montana, and 29 inches in Park City, Utah.

But snow was not the storm’s only culprit. Severe icing was also a danger.

Ann Arbor, Michigan, recorded 0.65 inches, while Fransville, Wisconsin, measured 0.75 inches of ice.

And in New England, icy conditions likely contributed to a massive 15-vehicle pileup on the Massachusetts Turnpike Thursday night, according to a tweet by the Massachusetts State Police.

The chain-reaction crash involved multiple personal vehicles and tractor trailers, officials said. Troopers, firefighters and EMS responded to the incident and multiple victims had to be transported to the hospital, according to the tweet.

As northern regions of the country were measuring snowfall and ice accumulation, parts of the Southeast were experiencing record-high heat.

More than 50 daily record highs were recorded in the Southeast Thursday.

The dueling winter storm and southern heat wave created a stark 100-degree temperature difference between the Northern Rockies and the South earlier this week.

CNN
 — 

Tucked among the thousands of iconic Yoshino cherry trees at the Tidal Basin in Washington, DC, is the “indicator tree,” which erupts into full bloom as much as 10 days earlier than its neighbors and gives officials at the National Park Service a good idea when the rest of them might begin to flower.

This year the indicator tree already started budding — the first stage of the bloom cycle — in the middle of February. That can only mean one thing: Spring (and cherry blossom season) is coming early.

Experts said this year could be a record-breaking early bloom, as temperatures soar way above average for February. Over the past century, the historical average peak bloom date at the Tidal Basin has been April 4, but records show it’s been coming earlier than usual in recent decades.

The earliest peak bloom on record was in March 15, 1990. Michael Litterst, communications chief for National Mall and Memorial Parks with the National Park Service, said he believes that date is “certainly in play this year.”

“All indications are it’s going to be earlier than average,” Litterst told CNN. Last year’s peak bloom was March 25. “We’re about a month out from that, but given what we’ve seen so far, and given what the forecast is, I think we’re probably looking at something earlier than that.”

Peak bloom varies each year depending on weather conditions. According to the National Park Service, Yoshino trees usually reach peak bloom between the last week of March and the first week of April. And the blooming period itself could last several days — it all depends on the weather.

But with the rise of planet-warming pollution, temperatures are getting warmer. And warm winters cause plants and trees to blossom early. Several Japanese plum trees, for instance, which are usually the earliest flowering trees, already blossomed around the National Mall in late January.

“Heat is what partially drives trees like that to blossom,” Litterst said. “And when you look at how mild this winter has been, and the fact that we’ve had zero snow or frozen precipitation this year, it’s not a surprise that we’re seeing this.”

Litterst said he has noticed a connection between warmer temperatures and earlier peak bloom. For example, the average annual temperature at the Martin Luther King Memorial and around the Tidal Basin have “increased a statistically significant 2.5 degrees Fahrenheit between 1895 and 2017,” he said.

At the same time that temperatures were warming, peak bloom dates have also been shifting early by approximately six days.

“And not surprisingly, we are seeing people who are coming in earlier in earlier” to see the capital’s iconic cherry blossoms, he added.

It’s not just Washington, DC. Spring leaf out — when the first tiny leaves emerge from buds of plants that are dormant in the winter — is already the earliest on record in parts of the Southeast, southern Midwest, and Mid-Atlantic, according to the National Phenology Network.

Even New York City is seeing spring leaf out 32 days earlier than normal.

“Spring is coming early in much of the Southern and Eastern US,” Brad Rippey, meteorologist with the US Department of Agriculture, previously told CNN. “Here in the mid-Atlantic, that means everything from budding trees to crocuses in bloom to spring peepers making lots of noise — and in February, no less.”

Many plant species beyond cherry blossoms — including daffodils, witch-hazel and forsythia — are beginning to leaf out in the East. Theresa Crimmins, director of the USA National Phenology Network, said it’s the plants responding to very early warm temperatures.

“Plants, especially those of temperate systems, respond to a number of cues in order to wake up in the spring, including exposure to chill in the winter, exposure to warmth in the spring, and day length,” she told CNN.

But given the recent erratic changes in weather patterns, it’s possible for temperatures to shift again.

According to the National Park Service, cool and calm weather typically extends the length of the bloom, while a rainy and windy day can bring an abrupt end to the ephemeral blossoms.

And a late frost can stop the trees from blooming at all.

This means if another cold snap occurs after this early warm spell, Crimmins said it could be disruptive and damaging for the plants’ cycle. As flower buds develop, many species lose their ability to tolerate cold temperatures, which means a freeze could kill blooms and leave fruit crops and other commodities vulnerable to spring freezes.

Rippey said warm winters followed by a spring freeze have become more common in recent years. In 2017, for instance, a severe spring freeze in March damaged several fruit crops — peaches, blueberries, apples and strawberries — in states including Georgia and South Carolina, which carried an economic toll of roughly $1.2 billion.

“As nice as it feels to have temperatures in the 70s and 80s this time of year, the fact that it’s not ‘normal’ can have a profound impact on the ecosystem,” Rippey said. “Even a typical spring freeze can damage commercial and back-yard fruit crops that have been pushed into blooming by late-winter warmth.”

The National Park Service’s Litterst said they plan to announce the projected peak bloom date on March 1. For now, it’s probably safe to say you can move up your DC cherry blossom picture-taking plans.

Washington
CNN
 — 

The US has intelligence that the Chinese government is considering providing Russia with drones and ammunition for use in the war in Ukraine, three sources familiar with the intelligence told CNN.

It does not appear that Beijing has made a final decision yet, the sources said, but negotiations between Russia and China about the price and scope of the equipment are ongoing.

Since invading Ukraine, Russia has repeatedly requested drones and ammunition from China, the sources familiar with the intelligence said, and Chinese leadership has been actively debating over the last several months whether or not to send the lethal aid, the sources added.

US intelligence officials have collected information in recent weeks, however, that suggests China is now leaning towards providing the equipment. The US and its allies last week began publicly warning about China’s potential military support to Russia in an effort to deter Beijing from moving ahead with it and crossing a point of no return in terms of being seen as a pariah on the world stage, US officials said.

US officials would not describe in detail what intelligence the US has seen suggesting the recent shift in China’s posture, but senior officials have been concerned enough that they have been actively sharing the intelligence with allies and partners over the last week.

The National Security Council and State Department declined to comment and CNN has asked the Chinese and Russian embassies in Washington for comment.

Asked on Friday about the potential sale of lethal equipment to Russia, foreign ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said in a daily briefing that “China has always taken a prudent and responsible approach to military exports and does not provide any arms sales to conflict areas or belligerents.”

The provision of drones and ammunition – which would likely be for small arms like handheld weaponry rather than larger artillery, the sources said – would mark a significant escalation of China’s support for Russia, which to date has been largely limited to Chinese companies providing non-lethal equipment like helmets, flak jackets, and satellite imagery to Russian forces.

It would also provide a potentially significant boost to Russian capabilities at a critical moment. Russian fighters are running so low on ammunition that Yevgeny Prigozhin, head of the Russian mercenary group Wagner, on Wednesday published photos of several dozen dead Wagner fighters and publicly blamed their deaths on the Russian Ministry of Defense’s inability to supply them with enough ammunition.

The German publication Der Spiegel first reported that China may provide attack drones to Russia.

“The concern that we have now is based on information we have that they’re considering providing lethal support, and we’ve made very clear to them that that would cause a serious problem for us and in our relationship,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on last weekend.

Blinken’s Chinese counterpart, Wang Yi, responded to the US’ allegations earlier this week, saying that China’s position on Ukraine “can be simply put as promoting peace talks.”

“China will continue to firmly stand on the side of dialogue and peace and play a constructive part in easing the situation,” he said. China also proposed a “peace plan” for the Ukraine war on Friday that US officials remain highly skeptical of.

Russia has purchased hundreds of weapons-capable drones from Iran in recent months but is burning through them quickly with repeated attacks on Ukrainian infrastructure and civilian areas.

To date, Beijing has been hesitant about providing lethal equipment that might be traced back to China because of the risk of international blowback, and Beijing still wants the provision of any equipment to Russia to be deniable and ideally non-attributable, the sources said.

That is why much of the non-lethal support that has gone to Russia’s military to date has been small and done through Chinese companies. As CNN previously reported, the Biden administration has confronted Beijing directly about that military assistance to ascertain how complicit the central government has been.

But the lines between public and private entities in China are negligible, the sources said, and US intelligence suggests that Beijing has been using the companies for plausible deniability.

The US has also begun seeing “disturbing trend lines” in China’s support for the Russian military, officials said.

Wang visited Russia this week and Chinese President Xi Jinping is set to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow in the coming months.