KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russia has unleashed a string of attacks against rail and fuel facilities deep inside Ukraine in an apparent attempt to thwart Ukrainian efforts to marshal supplies. Meanwhile, Russia’s top diplomat warned against provoking World War III and said the threat of a nuclear conflict “should not be underestimated.” The U.S. is moving to rush more weaponry to Ukraine and says the Western allies’ assistance is making a difference in the 2-month-old war. U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said the U.S. wants to help Ukraine remain independent and also see Russia “weakened to the point where it can’t do things like invade Ukraine.”

WASHINGTON (AP) — After two years at the front of the line for COVID-19 vaccines and treatments, the U.S. could soon have to begin taking a number. The White House is warning that other countries are already moving ahead of the U.S. in putting in their advance orders for the next generation of therapies. The problem is lack of funding. Many in Congress are willing to vote for the billions now needed. But Senate Republicans are demanding that as part of the deal Democrats must agree to extend pandemic-related, Trump-era border restrictions. Unless Congress can break that impasse, the White House says, more Americans will get COVID and die.

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — With violent crime increasing in much of the U.S., Republicans see a winning strategy in portraying Democrats as soft on crime ahead of this year’s elections. But the attacks are different in Oklahoma, where Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt is being blamed for mass commutations and a crime that involved cannibalism. The criticism of fellow Republicans is intensifying a split within the GOP between hard-liners and those conservatives who have shifted to support alternatives to prisons, largely as a way to save money. Groups that advocate various types of criminal justice reform worry the attacks could jeopardize meaningful changes.