Russia puts new pressure on the last pocket of resistance in Mariupil as Moscow looks to secure an early victory in its new eastern offensive.

Meanwhile, the West is rushing to send in new and heavier arms. We'll get a live report from Ukraine.

Plus, the latest in the battle over mask mandates. The Biden administration

now saying it likely will appeal the ruling that lifted the mandate on planes and other

public transportation. And after losing subscribers for the first time in a decade, Netflix

considers something it has tried its best to avoid running ads.

Good morning and welcome to wait too early on this Wednesday, April 20th. I'm Jonathan Lemire.

Russia declared yesterday that the next phase of the war was underway in eastern Ukraine,

claiming it aims to, quote, liberate the Donbos

region. But British intelligence is saying that Russian forces are still struggling. According to the

UK, the Ukrainian military continues to beat back Russia's attempts to advance even amid the increased

shelling in strikes. British intelligence also says that Russia's inability to progress is impacted by the resilience

of the Ukrainian military and by the same environmental, logistical, and technical challenges

that have hindered the Kremlin's forces all along.

The Pentagon believes Russia is still building up to an even larger

military offensive in the east, which they expect to be launched in the coming days or weeks.

At least one person was killed and three others injured when a Russian rocket hit the city of Kromatorsk

yesterday. Several residential buildings in a school were damaged in the attack. An explosion also

rocked the northeastern city of Kharkiv, where four people were killed and three others injured.

This, as the state emergency service of Ukraine yesterday said that Russians heavily bombarded

the city of Luhansk in the Donbos region, destroying several

buildings and a gas pipeline. According to a U.S. official, Russia has added more combat units

...