10 things you need to know today: April 20, 2022

Ukraine and allies respond to Russia's new offensive, Biden expands student-loan forgiveness program, and more

A Ukrainian soldier awaits surgery in Kramatorsk, Donetsk region
A Ukrainian soldier awaits surgery in Kramatorsk, Donetsk region
(Image credit: REUTERS/Marko Djurica)

1. Ukraine, allies counter Russian offensive

Russian forces have taken control of their first city in eastern Ukraine — Kreminna, population 18,000 — as part of their new offensive in the Donbas region, the governor of the Luhansk region, Serhiy Gaidai, said in a Tuesday briefing. He said the defenders "have entrenched themselves in new positions and continue to fight the Russian army." Ukrainian officials rushed to evacuate civilians from densely populated areas in the eastern Donetsk and Luhansk regions as Russia confirmed that it had launched a new phase of its war. The U.S. and other countries rushed to get more military aid to Ukraine. Russia gave Ukraine's last defenders in the besieged port city of Mariupol another deadline to surrender, but they vowed to keep fighting.

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Harold Maass, The Week US

Harold Maass is a contributing editor at The Week. He has been writing for The Week since the 2001 debut of the U.S. print edition and served as editor of TheWeek.com when it launched in 2008. Harold started his career as a newspaper reporter in South Florida and Haiti. He has previously worked for a variety of news outlets, including The Miami Herald, ABC News and Fox News, and for several years wrote a daily roundup of financial news for The Week and Yahoo Finance.