Official: Russia expanding its war focus to southern Ukraine

By SUSIE BLANN
Associated Press

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukrainian forces have damaged a bridge that is key to supplying Russian troops in southern Ukraine. Russia’s foreign minister said Wednesday that Moscow is trying to consolidate its territorial gains in that part of the war-torn country. Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Russia has expanded its “special military operation” from eastern Ukraine’s Donetsk and Luhansk provinces to include the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions and other captured territories. Lavrov’s remarks and the Ukrainian missile attack on the strategically important Kherson region bridge indicate the nearly five-month war is likely to spread again after unfolding mostly in eastern Ukraine since April. The U.S. is helping Ukraine in the fight, and on Wednesday announced it would supply four more HIMARS rocket launchers.