ZAPORIZHZHIA, Ukraine (AP) – A senior U.S. official is warning that Russia plans to annex much of eastern Ukraine later this month. Michael Carpenter is U.S. ambassador to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. He said the U.S. believes the Kremlin also will recognize the southern city of Kherson as an independent republic. He said the United States and its allies would not recognize either move. Meanwhile, the Mariupol steel mill that has become the city’s last stronghold of resistance came under renewed assault Monday, a day after the first evacuation of civilians from the plant. Buses and ambulances carrying more than 100 civilians from the rubble-strewn steelworks were making slow progress toward Ukrainian-controlled Zaporizhzhia.