Ukraine and Russia: What you need to know right now

Moscow's military "tasks" in Ukraine now go beyond the eastern Donbas region, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Wednesday, as the Kremlin's forces shelled eastern and southern Ukraine. FIGHTING * Ukrainian shelling badly damaged the crucial Antonivskyi bridge in the Russia-controlled Kherson region of southern Ukraine, Moscow-installed regional authorities said.

Moscow's military "tasks" in Ukraine now go beyond the eastern Donbas region, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Wednesday, as the Kremlin's forces shelled eastern and southern Ukraine. DIPLOMACY

* His comments, the clearest acknowledgment yet that Russia's war goals have expanded over the five months of war, came after Washington said it saw signs Moscow was preparing to formally annex territory it has seized in its neighbour. * The United States will send four more high mobility artillery rocket systems (HIMARS) to Ukraine, U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said.

* The number of border crossings from Ukraine since Russia invaded the country has passed 9.5 million, the UN Refugee Agency reported. FIGHTING

* Ukrainian shelling badly damaged the crucial Antonivskyi bridge in the Russia-controlled Kherson region of southern Ukraine, Moscow-installed regional authorities said. * A 13-year-old boy was killed and his 15-year-old sister wounded by a Russian missile strike at a bus stop in Kharkiv, local officials said. Russia, which denies targeting civilians, did not immediately comment.

ECONOMY * The European Union told member states to cut gas usage by 15% until March as an emergency step after President Vladimir Putin warned that Russian supplies sent via the biggest pipeline to Europe could be reduced further and might even stop.

* Russian gas flows via the Nord Stream 1 pipeline are likely to restart on time on Thursday after the completion of scheduled maintenance but at lower than its full capacity, two Russian sources familiar with the export plans told Reuters. * After meeting Putin in Tehran, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said he wanted an outline deal on resuming Ukrainian grain exports from the Black Sea - currently blockaded by Russian forces - to be put in writing this week.

* Ukraine's western creditor governments urged bondholders to accept Kiev's request for a two-year delay on its debt payments and said they would suspend payments owed to them. QUOTES

"Russia is blackmailing us. Russia is using energy as a weapon," European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said. "Now the geography is different, it's far from being just the DPR and LPR, it's also Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions and a number of other territories," Lavrov said.

(Compiled by Catherine Evans; Editing by Angus MacSwan)