Brian Thompson, the CEO of United Healthcare, was shot and killed by a masked man near a Midtown Manhattan hotel early Wednesday, according to police sources.

The shooting appears to be targeted but police do not know why, sources said.

Thompson was not staying at the Hilton outside of which he was shot, sources said.

The gunman, who was wearing a ski mask, fled down an alleyway near West 55th Street and remains at large, police said.

The suspect is described as a skinny man wearing all black who stands at about 6-foot-1, police said.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

A fast-moving, low-pressure clipper system is forecast to bring snow and strong winds to the Midwest and the Northeast over the next two days, as cold air drives temperatures down towards freezing.

More than 20 states from the Dakotas to New Jersey were under wind and snow alerts as of Wednesday morning.

The Appalachian Mountains in Maryland and West Virginia are under a blizzard warning with potential wind gusts of up to 65 mph and up to 10 inches of snow.

The heaviest snow is expected to fall near the Great Lakes, where a reinforcing shot of cold air will create heavy lake-effect snow bands.

Between 1 and 2 feet of snow is possible from Michigan to upstate New York, while between 3 and 10 inches is possible from Worcester, Massachusetts, to Caribou, Maine.

The I-95 corridor — including Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, New York City and Boston — is not expecting any snow accumulation. But major cities can expect high wind gusts of up to 40 to 50 mph. High winds are especially likely for Washington, D.C., Philadelphia and New York City.

Below-freezing temperatures were already biting as far south as Florida on Wednesday. Asheville, North Carolina, on Tuesday reported its first snowfall for 966 days.

The clipper system will be followed by strong winds and Arctic air, driving temperatures down across the eastern half of the U.S. Wind chills are forecast to push temperatures below freezing in the Midwest by Thursday morning.

Temperatures may feel as low as -10 degrees in Chicago as of Thursday morning, with Boston temperatures feeling like 6 degrees by Friday morning.

The Carolinas, meanwhile, may record record low temperatures over the coming days.

Pete Hegseth, President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for defense secretary, said on Wednesday he will not “back down” after new misconduct allegations have caused growing concern among Republican lawmakers.

“I’m doing this for the warfighters, not the warmongers. The Left is afraid of disrupters and change agents. They are afraid of @realDonaldTrump — and me. So they smear w/ fake, anonymous sources & BS stories. They don’t want truth. Our warriors never back down, & neither will I,” Hegseth wrote on X.

His comments come as a number of senators have privately signaled that they are not inclined to vote to confirm Hegseth as Trump’s next defense secretary, leading Trump’s advisers to begin discussing who may be a viable replacement, sources familiar with the matter told ABC News.

Sources tell ABC News that at least six senators have privately indicated that they don’t intend to vote for Hegseth amid the growing allegations, including about his mistreatment of women.

Multiple sources also tell ABC News that Trump and Florida GOP Gov. Ron DeSantis spoke about the job Tuesday and DeSantis expressed interest in it.

Hegseth is expected to be back on Capitol Hill Wednesday for meetings with more senators.

LONDON — Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told the Izvestia newspaper in an interview published Wednesday that Russia sees “no grounds for negotiations yet” to end Moscow’s war on Ukraine.

President-elect Donald Trump’s imminent return to the White House has revived speculation as to a possible deal to end Russia’s full-scale invasion of its neighbor, which by the time Trump takes office again will be nearly three years old.

Russia still occupies around 20% of Ukraine and claims to have annexed four entire regions — Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia — though it only partially occupies the areas it claims.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and his top officials have repeatedly said that Kyiv and its Western partners must accept the “new territorial realities” of Russian occupation, including of Crimea which was annexed in 2014.

Both Moscow and Kyiv have raised the prospect of renewed peace talks in recent weeks, though the two sides still appear far apart on key issues. Among them are the fate of the partially- or fully-occupied Ukrainian regions and Kyiv’s ambition to join NATO.

Peskov told Izvestia that “many countries have declared the readiness to host” possible peace talks, among them Qatar.

“Indeed, the emirate has been a very active mediator in various areas, it has been quite effective,” he added. “Besides, our bilateral relations with Qatar have been developing perfectly. We are grateful to all states, among them Qatar, for their goodwill.”

Russian and Ukrainian leaders are spending the last months of President Joe Biden’s time in office trying to gain leverage on the military and diplomatic fronts.

Former Fox News presenter Tucker Carlson announced on Wednesday that he had returned to Russia to interview Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. Carlson interviewed Putin in February and has been a fierce critic of the Biden administration’s support for Ukraine.

Zelenskyy, meanwhile, has spent the last week receiving high-level allied visits in Kyiv. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, European Council President Antonio Costa and EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas all travelled to the Ukrainian capital, with Scholz pledging $680 million in new military aid.

The U.S. also announced this week its latest tranche of military support worth some $750 million. Zelenskyy said such support is “exactly what we need.”

Ukrainian forces need “significant reinforcement, particularly through weapons from our partners,” the president said on Tuesday, amid difficult battlefield conditions.

Russian forces continue to advance in the east of Ukraine, while pressing their efforts to eject Ukrainian troops from Russia’s western Kursk region where Kyiv’s forces took up positions in a surprise August offensive.

Meanwhile, both sides continue long-range drone and missile attacks. Russia’s strikes are focused on Ukraine’s energy network, while Kyiv continues to target military sites and oil infrastructure facilities.

On Wednesday, Ukraine’s air force reported 28 Russia drones launched into the country overnight, of which 22 were shot down and three went off course. Russia’s Defense Ministry said its forces shot down 35 Ukrainian drones overnight.

Peace talk speculation looks set to continue through to Trump’s inauguration on Jan. 20.

Oleksandr Merezhko — a member of parliament representing Zelenskyy’s party and the chair of the body’s foreign affairs committee — told ABC News it is possible that Russia may soften its inflexible negotiating position in 2025.

“Putin is afraid of Trump and considers him to be unpredictable and stronger than Biden,” said Merezhko, who last month nominated the president-elect for next year’s Nobel Peace Prize.

“At the moment, Putin is in a hurry to grab as much territory as he can and to get the Kursk region back,” Merezhko said. “He is trying to improve his position before Trump coming to power and before the possible negotiations.”