President Biden on Thursday announced a “new humanitarian parole program” to welcome Ukrainian citizens fleeing Russia’s unprovoked invasion into the U.S.

The big picture: The program — known as “Uniting for Ukraine” — is part of the Biden administration’s commitment to welcome up to 100,000 Ukrainians and others fleeing the war.

Senior Homeland Security and National Security Council officials told reporters earlier on Thursday that they anticipate that the majority of the 100,000 will enter the U.S. via this effort.

When Rep. Fred Upton announced his retirement from Congress, colleagues in both parties lined up to lament. The one who misses him the most, in the end, may be Kevin McCarthy.

The Michigan Republican’s departure after 18 terms is the latest in a series of blows to the House’s small but mighty group of GOP dealmakers, a loose bloc of lawmakers who — despite a party shifting rightward — still favor compromise over obstinacy. They will prove critical to Republican leaders’ ability to run the chamber next year should they win back the House as expected, regardless of the margin of that victory.

Those Republicans are the ones most certain to deliver needed votes to a future GOP speaker on everything from funding the government to working with President Joe Biden on their own legislative agenda. But as the numbers of GOP dealmakers dwindle ahead of next year, some in that group are openly speculating how they’ll find members to replace the losses of Reps. John Katko (R-N.Y.), Kevin Brady (R-Texas), Upton and others from McCarthy’s prospective governing coalition.

Democrats’ path to saving their narrow Senate majority comes down to defending four states this fall. And in all of them, President Joe Biden is underwater in the polls.

Biden’s drag on swing-state incumbents is emerging as a pivotal factor in the midterm Senate elections, where the loss of just one Democratic-held seat in November could put Republicans in control.

Acutely aware of the need to get distance from the president, the four most endangered Democratic incumbents — Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly, Georgia Sen. Raphael Warnock, Nevada Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto and New Hampshire Sen. Maggie Hassan — are increasingly taking steps to highlight their independence from the president and underscore their differences.

President Vladimir Putin claimed victory in the biggest battle of the Ukraine war on Thursday, declaring the port of Mariupol “liberated” after nearly two months of siege, despite leaving hundreds of defenders still holed up inside a giant steel works.

Ukraine derided Putin’s attempt to avoid a final clash with its forces in the city as an acknowledgment that he lacked the troops to defeat them.

In a televised meeting at the Kremlin, Putin told Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu: “You successfully completed the combat effort to liberate Mariupol. Let me congratulate you on this occasion, and please convey my congratulations to the troops.”