Debris covered a street and firefighters rushed to rescue people from an apartment block hit by a Russian missile early Friday in the city of Kharkiv, just hours after US officials announced a change in policy that would allow Ukraine to defend itself against the attack by hitting targets in Russia. weapons provided by America.
The shift was narrow, giving Ukraine permission to use American air defense systems, guided rockets and artillery to fire into Russia only along Ukraine’s northeastern border, near Kharkiv. Fighting has raged in the region for the past three weeks after Russian troops crossed the border to open a new front in the war.
But targeting American weapons in Russia has been a red line drawn by the Biden administration amid concerns about an escalation before cross-border fighting began in Kharkiv. Russia has launched missiles and massed forces on its own territory, not far from the Soviet-era arms of Ukraine.
The attack prompted urgent appeals from Ukraine for the Biden administration to remove the shackles, using Western weapons as its true defense tactic. Indeed, when granting permission, US officials said that the weapons would only be used for self-defense in the border area.
Still, it’s a significant reversal that Ukraine hopes will help it regain its foothold in a war currently dominated by Russia, and it’s also a historic moment for the U.S.: It appears to be the first time an American president has allowed limited restrictions. use American weapons to strike at the borders of nuclear-armed enemies.
There was no immediate response from Ukrainian officials on the policy change. It is not clear how the package of American weapons approved by Congress last month has reached northern Ukraine, or how quickly Ukraine can use them.
Ukrainian officials say allowing the use of Western weapons could help turn the tide of fighting on the border, and defend against an attack on the city of Kharkiv, whose city center is only 24 miles from Russia, by attacking Russian missile launchers and aircraft. territory.
Officials in Britain, France, Poland and Sweden have voiced support for using their countries’ weapons to attack Russia before the Biden administration reversed its stance, and NATO secretary general Jens Stoltenberg has said he would allow Ukraine to use the weapons. of alliance members to attack targets in Russia.
Friday’s attack on the city is the kind of attack that Ukraine has called to get the United States to change its policy.
“Unfortunately, the multistory apartment building was hit,” the Mayor of Kharkiv, Ihor Terekhov, said in a statement after the early morning missile attack, sending the latest in a daily message about explosions and casualties in the city.
Mr. Terekhov said there was a fire. Minutes after the first missile strike, another struck the same location in a tactic known as a double tap intended to target emergency responders.
The attack killed three people and wounded 23, according to local news reports citing the regional governor, Serhiy Synehubov. The injured, he said, included police officers and medics who rushed to the site after the first missile exploded. He said a Russian S-300 missile, an outdated type of air defense missile Russia has been reusing to attack land targets, had hit an apartment building.
Ukraine has struck targets deeper inside Russian territory with a fleet of long-range explosive drones. American weapons will help the Ukrainian army in ground fighting north of Kharkiv and Ukrainian air defense forces to defend the city, Ukrainian officials said before the announcement in Washington.
For residents of Kharkiv, bombardments are a threat overshadowing most aspects of life.
The short trajectory of bombs and missiles means that civilians are in no danger, or sometimes none at all, so people have no choice but to sleep and go about their days knowing that they can be hit by a missile at any time.
“Everything is fast,” said Andriy Kolenchuk, production manager at the printing company on May 23. Explosions went off, lights flickered and debris fell from the ceiling, he said. Dust and smoke swirled around and “everyone was walking around covered in blood.”
Russian bombs and missiles hit the city, Ukraine’s second largest with a current population of about one million, often several times a day. In one of the deadliest attacks in recent weeks, a missile attack on a hardware superstore on May 25 killed 19 people, according to Ukraine’s Interior Minister Ihor Klimenko.
Maria Varenikova contributed a report from Kharkiv.
