5 things to know for Feb. 20: Pentagon cuts, Israeli hostages, Arizona plane crash, Ukraine, Birthright citizenship

CNN’s 5 Things AM brings you the news you need to know every morning.

There is currently about a 3% chance that an asteroid the size of a large building could collide with Earth in 2032, according to NASA calculations. The good news is that experts expect the risk percentage to fluctuate before likely dropping to zero. Here’s what else you need to know to Get Up to Speed and On with Your Day. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has ordered the US military to prepare plans to make drastic budget cuts over the next five years, with an exception for border security, according to a new memo obtained by CNN. The proposed cuts to the Pentagon’s approximately $850 billion budget would amount to tens of billions of dollars in the first year — the largest reduction in the Defense Department budget since 2013. Despite Hegseth’s stated focus to “revive the warrior ethos,” some defense officials responsible for drafting lists of Pentagon employees to be fired as soon as this week are voicing concerns that the terminations could break the law and harm US military readiness. Earlier today, Hamas handed over the bodies of four Israeli hostages held in Gaza — the first time the group has released deceased captives since October 7, 2023. They are said to include the bodies of Shiri Bibas, who was 32 when she and her sons Ariel, 4, and Kfir, 9 months, were abducted from their home in Kibbutz Nir Oz in southern Israel by Hamas-led militants more than 16 months ago. The two boys have become the most recognizable victims of the October 7 terror attacks, and the first return of hostage bodies marks a hugely emotional and somber moment for Israel. Two people are dead after a midair collision between two small aircraft Wednesday at Arizona’s Marana Regional Airport, just northwest of Tucson. While the investigation is ongoing, officials have confirmed two people were on each plane. The crash follows a recent string of aviation incidents beginning with the January 29 midair collision at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, which killed 67 people when a military helicopter and an American Airlines regional jet collided. Since then, four other aviation incidents have drawn national attention to air safety. President Donald Trump doubled down on his criticism of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Wednesday, eliciting reactions from GOP lawmakers, world leaders and top administration officials. On Tuesday, Trump wrongly accused Ukraine of starting the war with Russia. He also parroted another Moscow talking point in saying that the Ukrainian president should hold an election that was suspended because his country is in a state of war and under daily attack from Moscow’s forces. After Zelensky accused Trump of being in a “disinformation space,” Trump escalated the fight on Wednesday, falsely calling the democratically-elected Zelensky “a dictator.”