Happy Wednesday! In case you’re looking for new things to worry about, NASA and SpaceX launched a mission overnight seeking to test humanity’s ability to change the course of space objects “should an Earth-threatening asteroid be discovered in the future.”

Quick Hits: Today’s Top Stories

• In what the administration described as an attempt to temporarily lower oil and gas prices, President Biden announced Tuesday the Department of Energy will make available releases of approximately 50 million barrels of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve over the next few months. The move, the administration said, is being undertaken in coordination with several countries—China, India, Japan, South Korea, and the United Kingdom—that also plan to release some of their national stockpiles.

• Gen. Mark Milley, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, spoke with his Russian counterpart on Tuesday amid Russia’s buildup of military forces along the country’s border with Ukraine. Ukrainian Brig. Gen. Kyrylo Budanov told The Military Times this week that Russia is preparing to attack as early as January of next year, and CNN reported Tuesday the Biden administration is considering sending additional military advisers and equipment to Ukraine.

• The U.S. Navy announced that an American warship once again sailed through the geopolitically sensitive Taiwan Strait on Tuesday as part of the United States’ “commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific.” China’s foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian condemned the move as “deliberate disruption and sabotage,” declaring that the United States should stop “making provocations,” and “playing with fire.”