• J.B. Hunt stock slid as much as 13% on Wednesday after an earnings report that missed estimates.
• Demand for its freight services was weaker than expected in the first quarter.
• The firm is a bellwether for the freight industry, which has been mired in a post-pandemic recession.

A leading freight company is seeing its stock tank after weak trucking volumes led to a first-quarter earnings miss on both profit and sales.

JB Hunt shares slid as much as 13% on Wednesday after the company posted a profit of $127.5 million, which was $70.3 million less than it earned in the same period last year. Meanwhile, revenue missed forecasts of $3.11 billion, and instead slumped 9% to $2.94 billion.

The bellwether firm's difficulties are not a good look for the broader freight market, which has been toiling through an extensive slowdown since the pandemic years. Driving the contraction are weak sales and an overload of trucks.

"Demand remains weak and we're not seeing a breakout, and that's exemplified with what's going on with spot pricing in the market, where pricing is remaining at really historically low levels," Ken Hoexter, Bank of America's senior transportation analyst, told CNBC. "And it certainly was even weaker than expected, just given those results."

JB Hunt first sounded alarm over a potential "freight recession" in last year's first quarter earnings conference call, then noting that pandemic over-buying depressed goods demand in the years that followed, weighing heavily on the freight and transport industry.

This continued through 2023, marked by rising trucking unemployment and the exit of a number of major carriers. Current trucking spot rates have fallen 6.5% so far this year, DAT Solutions said, according to WSJ.

Part of JB Hunt's dilemma comes from rising competition from Eastern truck companies, which has slashed into its domestic intermodal services. These truck-to-rail offerings, a core segment of the company's revenue, dropped 9% from last year's quarter.

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• Both the US and Israel used weapons capable of killing missiles in space to fend off Iranian weapons last weekend.
• Videos online showed an apparent exo-atmospheric intercept from the attack. 
• Exo-atmospheric kills are impressive because of how difficult it is to find, hit, and destroy missiles in space.

Both the US and Israel used weapons capable of killing missiles in outer space to fend off Iran's massive strike over the weekend.

The US has confirmed that both the US Navy's SM-3 interceptor and Israel's Arrow were involved in the engagement. Videos circulating online from the fight appeared to show an exo-atmospheric kill, though details are few.

Intercepting a ballistic missile outside the Earth's atmosphere is a challenging task, an expert told Business Insider.

Footage of the suspected exo-atmospheric interception of an Iranian missile first appeared online Saturday night, shared by open source information accounts on X. It was unclear what exact weapon was used, although speculation was that it could have been Israel's Arrow system, a key part of its layered air defense network.

Another video posted by a defense correspondent for the Times of Israel seemed to offer a clearer look at an exo-atmospheric interception. It is unclear whether this was the same kill seen in the first video or a separate event.

Neither the US Department of Defense nor the Israel Defense Force immediately responded to BI's request for comment on what is thought to be a missile kill beyond the atmosphere.

An exo-atmospheric interception, which is when an interceptor strikes a ballistic missile and destroys it before it can re-enter Earth's atmosphere, is "impressive for several reasons," Dr. Sidharth Kaushal, a research fellow at the Royal United Services Institute, told Business Insider.

First, the complex process requires gathering data about the missile, in this case an Iranian ballistic missile fired towards Israel in an unprecedented attack, in its midcourse phase of its flight, when the speed is the highest.

"This is both complex in terms of long-range tracking, but also target discrimination," Kaushal said, adding that at that point "the second stage boosters and body of the missile separate from its warhead, which generates a challenge in terms of discriminating the warhead from other radar returns."

Another consideration is the speed of the missile during this stage. Because it's going so fast, it "imposes considerable demands in terms of interceptor speed and maneuverability in order to achieve a kill," he added. It also requires precise accuracy.

Once a ballistic missile has re-entered the atmosphere, it can be easier to track and target it, but at that point, there is potentially less reaction time for another interceptor, which may be strained by other demands, to respond.

The US military assets in the region and Israel have a few capabilities able to target ballistic missile threats in outer space.

For Israel, the Arrow system, which consists of Arrow 2 and 3, is a key air-defense capability. Arrow 3 was deployed in 2017 and achieved its first confirmed kill back in November 2023 against Houthi ballistic missiles. It was an upgrade from Israel's Arrow 2 system, which was deployed in 2000.

Both of Israel's Arrow systems can intercept short- and medium-range ballistic missiles, but while Arrow 2 was built to eliminate threats in the upper atmosphere, Arrow 3 is able to execute missile intercepts in space, according to The Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington DC-based think tank.

A senior US military official said that Arrow played a key role in stopping Iranian ballistic missiles, explaining that "the majority of those missiles were engaged by the Arrow system — Arrow 2 and Arrow 3 — in Israel."

But US warships and fighter aircraft were also involved. On Tuesday, the US Navy confirmed it fired a Standard Missile 3, or SM-3, against Iranian ballistic missiles, the first time the weapon has been used in combat. The SM-3 is also capable of destroying short- to intermediate-range ballistic missiles during the midcourse phase and can hit targets outside the Earth's atmosphere.

SM-3s are unique in that they are the only one of the Navy's Standard Missiles "designed to operate in the vacuum of space," CSIS said in its Missile Defense Project.

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• A recession has been avoided so far for three key reasons, economist David Rosenberg said. 
• Low levels of debt refinancing have blunted the impact of Fed rate hikes. 
• Meanwhile, consumers are still spending as the "wealth effect" keeps Americans feeling confident. 

The US has avoided a long-called-for recession for three reasons, but it doesn't mean a near-term downturn has been taken off the table, according to economist David Rosenberg.  

"Well, no asset class is priced for a recession — in fact, the corporate bond market and the S&P 500 now have zero chance of an economic downturn being discounted. Nothing is ever 0%, and nothing is ever 100%, but the current level of complacency is definitely unsettling," Rosenberg said in a note on Wednesday.

Taking a step back, besides higher-than-expected inflation, unemployment is going down, particularly in the state and local government sectors. Non-education employment is seeing the fastest growth rate since the late 1970s, and construction expenditures are up by 17% year over year. 

Such a booming landscape doesn't make Rosenberg drop his recession call, but he said there are three reasons the US has been able to navigate the uncertainty so far. 

First, he highlighted the historically low levels of debt refinancing in 2020 and 2021, which have so far prevented the Fed's aggressive tightening measures from being fully felt in the broader economy. 

"This made the economy less sensitive to the interest rate shift, to be sure, but that only bought time. In the next three years, especially in the business sector, it is going to be time to 'pay the piper' as an epic $7 trillion of corporate debt will be refinanced and likely at much higher interest rates than at the time of origination," he said.

Second, Rosenberg said that the government's spending via the Inflation Reduction Act and the CHIPS and Science Act has propelled manufacturing facility construction by 32%, even while industrial production has been stagnant.

"The bull market in economic growth boils down to the heavy hand and generosity of Uncle Sam," he said in the note. 

The third factor supporting his argument is the expansion of consumer spending, boosted by the "wealth effect" of rising real estate prices. Rosenberg notes that personal savings rates are now less than half the pre-pandemic norm as Americans keep spending. 

"The boom in real estate and equities has pushed the level of household net worth up an incredible $11.6 trillion (+8%) over the past year, and this stash of wealth has encouraged consumers to spend more and more out of current income. Highly reminiscent of what happened in the late 1990s," he added. 

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• Saudi Arabia's Neom is planning its first bond sale, Bloomberg reported.
• The issuance could take place later this year and raise up to $1.3 billion, per the outlet.
• Neom is the centerpiece of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman's Vision 2030 project.

Saudi Arabia's Neom project is set to issue bonds for the first time as its developers seek new funding sources, Bloomberg reported.

The $500 billion desert megacity could raise up to $1.3 billion by selling Islamic bonds, or sukuk, the outlet reported on Wednesday, citing unnamed sources.

The sukuk issuance may take place later this year, according to Bloomberg.

Neom is the centerpiece of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman's Vision 2030 project, a diversification drive aiming to pivot Saudi Arabia's economy away from oil and into other sectors, including tech.

The country's sovereign wealth fund, PIF, has provided most of the funding for the massive project, although it's reportedly yet to approve Neom's budget for 2024 amid concerns about rising costs.

The realities of the scale and expense of Vision 2030 have started to cause alarm at the highest level of the Saudi government, Bloomberg reported earlier this month.

In February, The Wall Street Journal reported that Saudi Arabia had started borrowing to help fund Neom and other Vision 2030 "gigaprojects."

Tim Callen, a visiting fellow at the Arab Gulf States Institute think tank in Washington, estimated that PIF would need to raise another $270 billion to fully realize its ambitions.

The best-known section of Neom is The Line — a city contained within twin 1,640-foot-high mirrored skyscrapers running parallel some 656 feet apart. According to Neom's website, it'll have no roads, cars, or emissions and run entirely on renewable energy.

Neom developers are also planning to build a "next-generation" sustainable port on the coast of the Red Sea, a ski and adventure resort, and a luxury island called Sindalha.

Neom did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider, and declined to comment to Bloomberg.

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• LinkedIn published a ranking of the best large companies for career growth in the US.
• Amazon ranked No. 2; Northrop Grumman rounded out the top 15.
• JPMorgan Chase & Co. ranked No. 1 and was one of the financial-services firms among the top 15.

LinkedIn released its annual US list of the best big employers for career growth this week, and JPMorgan Chase & Co. ranked No. 1.

A few kinds of employers emerge among LinkedIn's top 15 large companies for US career growth including financial-services giants like JPMorgan and Wells Fargo, telecom companies AT&T and Verizon, and the Big Four accounting firms Deloitte and PwC.

"This year's honorees are proving that investment in the employee experience is vital in today's workplaces," the report said. "Whether it's launching upskilling initiatives or offering flexible working arrangements, these are the companies leading the way in not only attracting workers, but retaining them in our ever-changing world of work."

The career-growth ranking was released amid a robust but slower job market with fewer job openings and quits than during the wild recovery from the pandemic. The labor market has been looking more Goldilocks-like, where it's not too hot or not too cold.

"Job seekers still have some bargaining power but are less willing to demonstrate that power by leaving their jobs," Nick Bunker, economic research director for North America at the Indeed Hiring Lab, recently told Business Insider. "With fewer new job opportunities and less of a pay bump for switching roles, more employees are staying put. However, layoff rates are still low, so workers have robust job security compared to pre-pandemic levels."

Not all companies qualified for the ranking. One of the requirements was size: "To be eligible, companies must have had 5,000 or more global employees with at least 500 in the country as of Dec. 31, 2023," the report said. Workforce layoffs was another factor, per the methodology. A few kinds of workplaces were also excluded, such as government agencies.

Skills growth, gender diversity, and the ability to advance were three of the eight "pillars" used for this list. Ability to advance covered "employee promotions within a company and when they move to a new company, based on standardized job titles," per the methodology.

"Our methodology uses LinkedIn data to rank companies based on eight pillars that have been shown to lead to career progression," the report said.

Below are the top 15 places.

15. Northrop Grumman

The new LinkedIn report listed aerospace engineering, fluid mechanics, and aircraft management as the most notable skills at this employer. Three kinds of engineering jobs were listed as the most common job titles. These were system engineer, software engineer, and manufacturing engineer.

14. Capital One

A lot of workers use artificial intelligence in different industries. AI was also noted as one of the most notable skills for Capital One in the new report. As was the case for Northrop Grumman, software engineer was listed as one of the most common job titles. The other two titles listed for this financial-services employer were product manager and business analyst.

13. Mastercard

Product management was listed as one of the largest job functions at Mastercard, and it was listed as one of the most notable skills. That makes sense given that product manager was listed as one of the most common job titles at this company in the new report. Software Development Life Cycle and the programming-language SQL were the two other noteworthy skills stated in the LinkedIn report for this workplace.

12. Bank of America

The LinkedIn report listed commercial banking, capital markets, and investment banking as the most notable skills for Bank of America. While finance was listed as part of the biggest job functions, business development and sales were considered main functions too.

Christie Gragnani-Woods, senior vice president for Bank of America's external community partnerships and regional banking talent acquisition executive, previously told Business Insider this employer likes to see talent who are team-oriented and "those that thrive on engaging with customers."

11. General Motors

Based on the most common job titles listed in the new report, it's common to find people at General Motors working as engineers. The most common titles listed were software engineer, manufacturing engineer, and automotive engineer. Given that, it makes sense that engineering was also listed as part of the biggest job functions. IT was another big one.

10. Alphabet Inc.

The most notable skills for Alphabet per the LinkedIn report were mobile application development, AI, and signal processing. Program and product management were listed as part of the largest job functions, and program and product managers were included as part of the most common roles.

9. Moderna

Research, operations, and engineering were stated in the LinkedIn report as the largest job functions for Moderna. Quality assurance specialists can be commonly found at this employer based on titles listed in the new LinkedIn report.

8. Verizon

Two different kinds of sales skills were listed as part of the most notable skills for Verizon in the report: inside sales and sales leads. Given this is a telecom company, it makes sense that telecommunications was another noteworthy skill. Customer service representatives can be commonly found at Verizon, per the report.

7. AT&T

Like Verizon, telecommunications was among the most notable skills at AT&T. The two other skills listed in the LinkedIn report for AT&T were industrial design and web hosting. Sales is one of the biggest job functions at this employer per the report.

6. UnitedHealth Group

The common roles at UnitedHealth Group per the report include project manager, software engineer, and customer service representative. Given this is a healthcare company, it makes sense that healthcare management and public health were among the most notable skills. And while healthcare services is big at this employer, another main job function per the report is IT.

5. PwC

People working at PwC may be especially knowledgeable in taxes. Tax accounting and tax law were listed in the LinkedIn report as part of the most notable skills for this employer. Tax accountant was part of the most common job roles. Relatedly, accounting was listed as one of the biggest job functions at this employer.

"While the majority of our positions require educational degrees, we still look for candidates who have relevant skills and who are committed to continuing to learn at every stage of their career," Rod Adams, PwC talent acquisition and onboarding leader, previously told Business Insider in a statement. "We know that our people's skills, experiences and perspectives are essential to our firm, and we'll continue to focus on attracting and retaining people who can help PwC grow and succeed."

4. Deloitte

Like for PwC, two of Deloitte's most notable skills were tax accounting and tax law. Auditing was the third noteworthy skill listed per the report for this employer. Tax accountant was noted as one of the most common job titles. The report listed consulting as one of the biggest job functions at this employer.

"We provide a wide variety of services to our clients, which means we source talent across specialties, including business-tax professionals, certified public accountants, clinicians, and software engineers," David Rizzo, national managing principal of talent strategy and operations for Deloitte, said in an as-told-to essay for Business Insider. "Other roles that people may not know about at Deloitte are climate scientists, brand marketers, writers, graphic designers, forensics lawyers, user-experience and user-interface designers, and product developers."

3. Wells Fargo

Like many other companies that made the top 15, software engineer was one of the most common job titles for Wells Fargo per the report. The other two noted were banker and business consultant. Commercial banking, capital markets, and debt collection were the skills noted as most notable for this employer in the report. Sales was also listed as one of the largest job functions for this place.

2. Amazon

Workers at Amazon may be familiar with AI and also human computer interaction as these were listed as among the most notable skills for this employer in the LinkedIn report. Supply chain associate is one common role at Amazon, per LinkedIn, along with software engineers and package handlers.

1. JPMorgan Chase & Co.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. had the same three skills listed as the most notable ones as Bank of America: commercial banking, capital markets, and investment banking. Project manager was one of the most common job titles listed for JPMorgan Chase & Co. in the report. While finance is a main job-function area, so is engineering and business development per LinkedIn's findings.

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• For months, Israel and Ukraine aid has been stalling in the House. That may be about to change.
• Speaker Johnson is planning separate votes on the aid in order to ease GOP opposition.
• It's a complicated process, but it could work. Here's what to know about the plan.

For months, the House has been sitting on a bill that would provide aid to Ukraine, Israel, Taiwan, and humanitarian funding for Gaza.

The Senate passed the $95.3 billion package in February after a plan to attach the bill to increased border security measures failed. But many, if not most, House Republicans are opposed to further Ukraine aid, and House Speaker Mike Johnson now has to deal with Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene's threat to call a vote on his ouster if he allows more Ukraine aid to pass.

So Johnson has a plan: hold separate votes on the key parts of that package — one for Israel, one for Ukraine, and two more on other major components — and then bundle it up and send it to the Senate.

Votes could come as soon as Friday, but may slip into the weekend. The devil's in the details here, and as of Wednesday morning, the text of the legislation has not been released publicly. It remains unclear whether humanitarian aid for Gaza — a key priority for most Democrats — will be included.

But while they're generally skeptical of the plan, and would prefer that the House simply pass the Senate's bill, Democrats in both chambers sound willing to hear out Johnson.

"I'm willing to keep an open mind, but man, why not just do the easy thing?" Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut told reporters on Tuesday, saying Johnson's plan doesn't "sound like a recipe for success."

Johnson also has to contend with anger from the hard right, and potentially growing support for Greene's ouster effort.

Here's what to know about Johnson's unconventional Ukraine plan.

Many Republicans oppose Ukraine aid, while Democrats are increasingly skeptical of Israel aid

Johnson's plan is aimed at addressing two separate pockets of opposition to the foreign aid package.

After October 7, the Biden administration and Senate leaders insisted on tying Israel and Ukraine aid together, with the idea being that including Israel aid would incentivize Republicans to swallow more Ukraine aid.

Republicans, hoping to avoid that, have made numerous attempts at passing Israel aid on its own, but they've either failed or been stalled in the Democratic-controlled Senate.

Democrats unanimously support Ukraine aid, and there are plenty of Republicans — including Johnson, a former Ukraine skeptic — who feel the same, meaning a majority of the House would vote to approve it.

But as the war in Gaza has unfolded, and the Democratic base has increasingly turned against the war as civilian casualties mount, Democrats have grown to be either outright opposed to the Israel aid or supportive of conditions.

Johnson's plan is designed to allow progressive Democrats to vote against Israel aid, while hard-right Republicans can vote against the Ukraine aid — all while allowing the whole package to move forward.

Nancy Pelosi pulled off a version of this back in 2007

There's some precedent for what Johnson's trying to do here.

After retaking the House in 2007, Democrats faced pressure to continue funding the War in Iraq — but most House Democrats were opposed to that.

To solve the issue, then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi tied the funding to an increase to the federal minimum wage, while keeping the votes separate.

Thus, Democrats got a win — increasing the minimum wage by $2.10 — while Iraq war funding passed the House and made it to then-President George W. Bush's desk.

The hard-right is still furious, and Johnson could face a vote to oust him

Many hard-right Republicans remain opposed to this plan, and on Tuesday, Greene won a new ally: Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky, who is co-sponsoring the Georgia congresswoman's "motion to vacate" and is now calling on Johnson to resign.

Of course, both Greene and Massie are outliers among House Republicans — they were the only two lawmakers to vote against every single Russia-related bill following the start of the Ukraine war in 2022 — but Johnson has little room for error given Republicans' dwindling vote margin.

Several Democrats have said they would oppose an effort to oust Johnson, a break from their unanimous support for Kevin McCarthy's ouster in October.

But some of those Democrats have conditioned that promise on the passage of more Ukraine aid, and it's unclear if Johnson's plan will satisfy them.

"In the absence of an organized, logical demonstration of leadership, I'm not making any promises," said Democratic Rep. Abigail Spanberger of Virginia, who previously indicated a willingness to save Johnson in exchange for more Ukraine aid.

This story will be updated when the text of Johnson's bill is released.

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• The situation for Ukraine is becoming increasingly desperate. 
• It's running out of vital military equipment amid a block of US aid. 
• The picture is not totally catastrophic — but Ukraine's leaders are warning that Russia could win. 

Ukraine's chances of victory in its two-year battle to repel Russia's brutal invasion appear to be fading.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Ukraine's president, is warning with increasing urgency that his country could lose the war if it doesn't get $60 billion in US aid that Republicans in Congress are refusing to release.

"Can we hold our ground? No," Zelenskyy recently told PBS of Ukraine's prospects should it not get the funding.

Ukraine's foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, was just as blunt in a recent interview.

"Give us the damn Patriots," he told Politico in March, referring to the US-made air defense systems used to defend Russian missiles, which are pummelling Ukrainian cities and infrastructure.

On the front line in east and south Ukraine, reports say the situation is increasingly desperate, with Russia outfiring Ukraine at a rate of three to one. Parts of the front line are also dangerously close to collapse.

Senior Ukrainian military officials, talking to Politico, said that Russia could break through wherever it focuses its anticipated summer offensive.

Russia will likely be able to "penetrate the front line and to crash it in some parts," they told the outlet.

"I would say the conditions now are probably more favorable for a Russian breakthrough than at any time since the opening stages of the war," Bryden Spurling, an analyst with the RAND Corporation, told Business Insider.

The aid block is also making it increasingly difficult for Ukraine to defend its cities and critical infrastructure, such as power stations, from waves of Russian missile and drone attacks.

Last year, Ukraine was able to shoot down 90% of Russian attacks using Patriot air defense systems, but that number has now dropped to around 30% for some attacks. Meanwhile, Russia is intensifying its air strikes to exploit the growing gaps.

Ukraine is also experiencing serious problems recruiting enough troops. It doesn't regularly release its military casualty figures, but in the fall of last year, US officials estimated that there had been up to 190,000 soldiers killed or wounded.

Russia, with its much bigger population, has boosted the size of its military, making up for steep early losses, a US State Department official said in early April.

After suffering huge equipment losses in the early days of the war, Russia has shifted its economy to a war footing, producing a steady supply of ammunition, while allies, such as Iran and North Korea, provide drones and rockets.

Putin's strategy of waiting for Western resolve to weaken, for Ukraine's crucial aid supplies to dwindle, and then grinding out some form of victory, appears to have been vindicated.

Without the US aid package, "the risk of a Russian breakthrough rises substantially," said Spurling. "Even at best, it limits Ukraine's options, and ultimately leads to more Ukrainian lives and materiel lost," he added.

The role of the West

Ukraine is on a "starvation diet" for aid, George Barros, an expert at the Institute for the Study of War, told BI.

In an interview with BI's Sinéad Baker, one US volunteer fighting for Ukraine wholly attributed the loss of the town of Avdiivka to a lack of ammunition.

Western equipment, like tanks, were sent in "symbolic" amounts, Barros said.

This doesn't just weaken Ukraine's volume of fire — it can torpedo the whole approach to battle planning.

Scarcity of equipment leads officers to treat it like "the golden goose," because they don't know when more is coming, Barros said, adding: "It forces them to operate differently, be extremely conservative, not have the comfort to be able to take acceptable losses."

The US' months-long hesitation to send ATACMS ballistic missiles to Ukraine ahead of its counteroffensive last year was a case in point.

"It was really painful to watch" Ukraine start attacking the southern region of Zaporizhzhia without them, Barros said. ATACMS would have been able to take out an air base in Berdyansk being used by Russian helicopters.

Instead, Western-supplied German Leopard tanks attempting to advance in the counteroffensive were "shredded" by the helicopters, he said.

"From a campaign design perspective, it's very frustrating because ideally, the Ukrainians should have had the capability to strike that Russian attack helicopter base on day zero," he said.

It was the first thing they took out when ATACMS finally arrived.

Those battlefield frustrations have worsened an already-difficult political situation back in the US.

Barros said there are "bad faith debaters and policymakers" who "point to a failed Ukrainian summer 2023 counteroffensive and then say, 'Look at all this money we've given Ukraine. Look at all the stuff we've given Ukraine.' But they don't bother to actually take in the facts of the matter."

Alternately hyping and catastrophizing around the impact of any given Western weapon system, and Ukraine's military prospects in general, is leading to "a very dysfunctional discussion," Justin Bronk, an air power expert at London's Royal United Services Institute, told BI.

It leads to "unrealistic expectations often being set and claimed by both Western partners and the Ukrainian side, in order to try and counterbalance extremely overly negative views," he said.

Speculative talks have emerged of a potential NATO-led, five-year $100 billion fund for Ukraine — conceived as part of moves designed to give the US less individual sway over the country's fate.

Such a fund and the promise of reliable aid in the long term would give commanders the ability to plan their battles far more effectively. But these proposals will only be finalized in July, diplomats told Politico — and there is no guarantee they will get off the ground.

Russian military weaknesses could hamper its advances

Ukraine is taking urgent action to shore up its defenses ahead of an anticipated massive Russian attack in the summer.

It's constructing thousands of miles of multi-layered defensive lines to protect its territory, mirroring Russia's construction of similarly formidable defensive lines last year.

But Mykola Bielieskov, an advisor to Ukraine's military leadership at the National Institute for Strategic Studies in Kyiv, told the iPaper that such defenses have to be defended by artillery fire to be effective — and that's what Ukraine's running short on.

"In-depth defense reinforced with obstacles only works if buttressed with proper firepower," he told the publication.

Ukraine continues to achieve striking successes despite being outgunned and outmanned by Russia, and its resolve remains steadfast.

Its long-range drone strikes are seriously impacting Russia's oil and gas sector, which it relies on to fund its campaign in Ukraine, while Ukraine's innovative, inexpensive sea drones have devastated Russia's Black Sea Fleet, helping keep a crucial maritime corridor open for Ukraine's grain exports.

Analysts also say that weaknesses in Russia's military are limiting the Kremlin's ability to take advantage of the situation. Despite Ukraine's weaknesses, Russia has so far only been able to make incremental gains this year, such as seizing control of the city of Avdiivkva in February.

Russia has long suffered serious problems with inept officers, an excessively rigid command structure, and low morale among troops who are often thrown into high-casualty, head-on assaults on Ukrainian positions.

Spurling said the high loss of armored vehicles to Ukrainian drones and Russia's failure to establish dominance of the air could also hamper a planned offensive.

"These things will make it harder for Russia to exploit any breach in the Ukrainian lines," he said.

What would Ukraine's defeat look like?

But if no more US aid is forthcoming and Ukraine's European allies fail to boost supplies to make up for the shortfall, Ukraine will likely be staring at the prospect of defeat. What form that defeat would likely take, though, is unclear.

George Beebe, a former Director of the CIA's Russia analysis unit, told BI that Russia appears to have neither the resources nor the desire to seize all of Ukraine.

"Russia could not conquer all of Ukraine without mustering an invasion force many times the size of its present army, and occupying and governing that territory would be enormously bloody and expensive for Russia. The odds that it would attempt to do so are therefore miniscule," said Beebe.

He said that Russia would likely seek to seize more territory east of the Dnipro River that it sees as rightfully Russian and create a "no man's land" and heavy fortifications separating the parts of Ukraine it's seized from the rest of the country.

Despite the setbacks, Ukraine is continuing to resist Russia's attacks ferociously. Spurling said that the course of the war has so far defied predictions.

"For Ukraine to suffer total defeat, we'd need to see a major collapse in Ukrainian lines and morale," he said. "Given Ukraine's ongoing resilience and the challenges Russia's own military is facing, I think it's a low risk. But it's not zero."

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• Tesla is done with Delaware.
• Elon Musk has disapproved of Delaware ever since a judge there ruled against his massive pay package.
• Now the company wants shareholders to move the company to Texas officially.

Tesla wants to abandon Delaware and make Texas its official home.

In a proxy statement filed with the SEC on Wednesday, Tesla asked shareholders to approve moving the electric car company's incorporation from its current location in Delaware to Texas, where its headquarters are.

"Texas Is Tesla's Home. 2024 is the year that Tesla should move home to Texas," the proxy statement reads. "We have received letters from thousands of Tesla stockholders — large and small — supporting a move home to Texas. We have heard you, and now we formally ask that you speak in a meaningful way: and vote in favor of taking Tesla to our business home of Texas."

Tesla CEO Elon Musk has been feuding with Delaware since a judge there ruled in January against approving Musk's $55 billion pay package, which a shareholder had argued in a 2018 lawsuit was too excessive.

"Never incorporate your company in the state of Delaware," Musk wrote on X, formerly Twitter, on January 30 following the judge's decision.

Now, shareholders will have a chance to make good on Musk's threats to bail.

The proxy statement also asks shareholders to re-approve Musk's pay package, which is now valued at $47 billion. Shareholders are scheduled to vote on both proposals — the move and the pay package — in June.

Before then, Tesla will announce its quarterly earnings next Tuesday, on the heels of sweeping layoffs this week to more than 10% of the company's workforce.

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• Iran appeared to target Israel's Nevatim Airbase with over 350 drones and missiles on Sunday.
• Nevatim houses Israel's F-35I "Adir" stealth fighter jets produced by US company Lockheed-Martin.
• The planes downed a cruise missile in November and aided defenses against Iranian missiles, the IDF said.

Early Sunday morning, Iran fired hundreds of drones, missiles, and rockets at Israel in a retaliatory attack following Israel's strike on the Iranian consulate in Damascus, Syria.

With military assistance from allies including the US, the UK, Jordan, and France, Israel successfully intercepted around 99% of the incoming projectiles, according to the Israel Defense Forces.

The missiles appeared to target Israel's Nevatim Airbase in the Negev desert, which houses its fleet of F-35I stealth fighter jets. The Israeli variant of the US-made Lockheed Martin Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter plane is known as "Adir," meaning "Mighty One" in Hebrew.

Here's a look at the powerful military aircraft.

F-35 Lightning II stealth fighter jets produced by Lockheed Martin are some of the most advanced military aircraft in the world.

The F-35 stores its weapons and fuel internally, and its aligned edges and radar-absorbent coating also help the aircraft evade detection. The planes cost $44,000 per hour to fly, The National Interest reported in January.

They feature advanced stealth and information-processing capabilities and can reach supersonic speeds of Mach 1.6, or 548.8 meters per second.

Lockheed Martin CEO Marillyn A. Hewson said in 2018 that the planes "can fly in what we call 'beast mode,' carrying up to 18,000 pounds of internal and external ordnance, in a mix that can include 5,000-pound-class weapons."

In 2016, Israel became the first country other than the US to acquire F-35 fighter jets.

Israel was the first country to select the model through the US Foreign Military Sales process and bought 50 planes, according to Lockheed Martin.

Israel has made significant modifications to the jets.

Israel manufactures its own wings and electronic warfare system for the F-35I. It also developed its own version of the high-tech helmet that displays the plane's airspeed, altitude, targeting information, and other crucial stats directly on the pilot's visor.

The Israeli Air Force named its F-35I variant "Adir," meaning "Mighty One" in Hebrew.

The Israeli Air Force also added a six-pointed Star of David to the design, a Jewish symbol that also appears on the Israeli flag.

In 2018, Israel became the first country to use the F-35I in combat, its air force chief said.

"We are flying the F-35 all over the Middle East and have already attacked twice on two different fronts," then-Israeli Air Force chief Major-General Amikam Norkin said in a speech at a gathering of foreign air force leaders, Reuters reported.

In July 2023, Israel acquired an additional 25 Adir planes in a $3 billion deal.

The deal was financed through the military aid Israel receives from the US, Reuters reported.

In November 2023, Israel's F-35I Adir fighter jets took down a missile fired by an Iran-backed group in Yemen, according to the IDF.

It was the first known intercept of a cruise missile by an F-35 plane.

The Israeli Air Force released footage of the encounter on X, writing in Hebrew that its personnel are "preoccupied at every moment with planning and managing the defense response and are prepared for any threat in any area."

Iran appeared to target the Nevatim air base, which houses Israel's fleet of F-35I jets, during an unprecedented attack on Sunday morning.

Out of the over 350 ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, and UAVs, or unmanned aerial vehicles, launched at Israel by Iran and its proxies in Iraq, Yemen, and Lebanon, around 99% were intercepted by Israel and its allies. The IDF released photos showing minor damage near a runway at the Nevatim Airbase and to a road in Hermon caused by the few projectiles that landed.

The Nevatim base remained operational throughout the attack, according to the IDF, with the Adir fighter jets aiding the defensive mission.

"Iran thought it would be able to paralyze the base and thus damage our air capabilities, but it failed," IDF spokesperson Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said in a statement.

The ongoing war in Gaza has prompted new scrutiny of US military aid to Israel.

The October 7 terrorist attacks carried out by Hamas killed around 1,200 Israelis and captured over 240. Around 129 hostages remain in Gaza, though it is unknown how many are still alive.

Israel's counteroffensive airstrikes and military actions in Gaza have resulted in over 33,000 Palestinian fatalities, including around 14,500 children, according to figures provided to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs by the Hamas-run Ministry of Health in Gaza. The IDF reports that 13,000 of these fatalities were Hamas militants.

According to the UNRWA, over 1.7 million Gazans have been displaced and 1.1 million are at risk of "catastrophic levels of food insecurity."

The devastating human toll of the war in Gaza with US-funded planes like the F-35I has prompted new scrutiny of US aid to Israel, with some lawmakers in Congress raising the possibility of conditioning military and economic aid.

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• Tesla has begun sending severance information to laid-off staff.
• The severance offered includes two months' pay and health insurance, five former workers told BI.
• On Sunday, Elon Musk told Tesla staff he was cutting more than 10% of the company's workforce.

Tesla has started sending out severance information to laid-off employees.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk told staff the electric-car maker was slashing more than 10% of its workforce on Sunday night, according to an internal memo viewed by Business Insider. In the individual layoff notices to impacted workers that were sent in the hours after Musk's companywide email, Tesla told workers they'd receive their severance information "within 48 hours," according to emails viewed by BI.

The emails, which were sent to the workers' personal email accounts, notified staff they had been terminated effective immediately. The workers were also cut out of Tesla's internal systems around the same time, several former workers said.

The carmaker appears to be offering workers two months of severance — meaning the workers will be paid through June 14, five former workers told Business Insider. The severance packages did not appear to be weighted based on the length of time workers had been with Tesla, as workers with anywhere from a few months to several years of experience at Tesla received the same number of weeks paid out, the five sources told BI.

Under the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act (WARN), companies that have more than 100 workers are required to provide 60 days of notice before a large-scale layoff. However, Tesla's severance offer could address any potential penalties if it were found to have violated the WARN Act, which says laid-off employees can be entitled to up to 60 days of pay and benefits if not given proper advanced notice.

Tesla is also offering to pay the cost of COBRA health insurance for two months for workers who had coverage through the company, according to a severance package offer viewed by BI.

In order to receive the severance pay, laid-off workers must sign the contract being offered, which prohibits them from participating in any lawsuit or mass arbitration against the company, sharing any of the company's trade secrets or publicly defaming Tesla. These types of clauses are relatively standard for severance agreements.

Tesla said the severance agreement must be signed within five business days of its receipt and workers will receive their severance pay 45 days after their termination date, according to a severance agreement viewed by BI.

While the severance information appears to have started going out overnight, several Tesla workers who were impacted by the layoff told BI they had yet to receive a severance information as of Wednesday morning.

The severance agreement did not include any information regarding equity awards or unused PTO. An exit email that was sent to laid-off employees on Tuesday said Tesla workers had "either 30 days or 3 months (or both)" from their termination date to exercise their vested stock options and staff would have their PTO that they'd accrued leading up to their termination date paid out in their final paycheck.

A spokesperson for Tesla did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Do you work for Tesla or have a tip? Reach out to the reporter via a non-work email and device at gkay@businessinsider.com

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