KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russian ballistic missiles struck an apartment building in Kharkiv, killing at least four people in an overnight attack, Ukrainian officials said Friday, a day after U.S. President Joe Biden gave Kiev the green light to strike back with American weapons targeting Russian military assets on the country’s second largest city.
Russia launched five S-300/S-400 ballistic missiles at Kharkiv last night, the Ukrainian air force said. One of them hit a residential building around midnight and was followed 25 minutes later by another rocket that hit first responders, regional Governor Oleh Syniehubov said. At least 25 people were injured, he said.
Ukrainian officials have previously accused Russia of attacking rescue workers by hitting residential buildings with two successive missiles – the first to draw emergency services to the scene and the second to injure or kill them. In military jargon, this tactic is called a “double tap.” Russia used the same method in the civil war in Syria.
A Russian attack this month in the northeastern Kharkiv region, including a Russian aerial bombing of a major building supplies store that killed 18 people on May 25, has forced the evacuation of thousands of people and tested Ukraine’s depleted armed forces. a crucial period in the war, which is now in its third year.
Apart from Kharkiv, Moscow’s forces are pushing into the Donetsk region further south and assembling a force for an expected attack in the Sumy region further north, Ukrainian officials said.
The Kremlin’s larger and better-equipped military is taking advantage of Ukrainian troop and ammunition shortages after a prolonged delay in US military aid. Western Europe’s inadequate military production has delayed crucial deliveries of military aid to Ukraine.
Biden’s decision allows US-supplied weapons to be used for “counterfire purposes in the Kharkov region so that Ukraine can strike back against Russian forces attacking them or preparing to attack them,” a Washington official told The Associated Press.
But the officials, who requested anonymity to discuss the sensitive issue, stressed that U.S. policy calling on Ukraine not to use American-supplied ATACMS or long-range missiles and other munitions to launch offensive attacks inside Russia has not changed.
That restriction has frustrated Ukrainian officials, as the military is unable to order hits on Russian forces massing across the border — the city of Kharkiv is just 20 kilometers (12 miles) from Russia — or Russian bases used to launch missile attacks to be carried out.
The question of whether Ukraine should be allowed to strike targets on Russian territory with Western-supplied weaponry has been a delicate issue since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion on February 24, 2022.
Western leaders have hesitated to take the step because they risk provoking Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has repeatedly warned that the West’s direct involvement could put the world on a path to nuclear conflict.
But with Russia recently gaining the battlefield initiative in some parts of the 1,000-kilometer frontline, some Western leaders are pushing for a policy change that would allow Kiev to attack military bases in Russia with advanced long-range weapons supplied by its Western partners.
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