Russian missiles kill 4 people in Kharkiv after Biden OKs a Ukrainian response using U.S. weapons

Russian ballistic missiles slammed into an apartment block in Kharkiv and killed at least four people in a night-time attack, Ukrainian officials said Friday, a day after U.S. President Joe Biden gave Kyiv a green light to strike back with American weapons at Russian military assets targeting the country’s second-largest city.

Russia launched five S-300/S-400 ballistic missiles at Kharkiv overnight, Ukraine’s air force said. One of them struck a residential building close to midnight and was followed by another missile 25 minutes later that hit first responders, according to regional Gov. Oleh Syniehubov. At least 25 people were injured, he said.

Ukrainian officials have previously accused Russia of targeting rescue workers by hitting residential buildings with two consecutive missiles — the first one to draw emergency crews to the scene and the second one to wound or kill them. The tactic is called a “double tap” in military jargon. Russia used the same method in Syria’s civil war.

A Russian onslaught this month in the northeastern Kharkiv region, including a Russian aerial bomb attack on a large construction supplies store that killed 18 people on May 25, has forced the evacuation of thousands of people and has stretched Ukraine’s depleted forces in what is proving to be a critical period in the war, which is now in its third year.

Apart from Kharkiv, Moscow's troops are pressing in the Donetsk region further south and are assembling a force for an expected attack in the Sumy region further north, according to Ukrainian officials,

The Kremlin’s bigger and better-equipped army is exploiting Ukrainian shortages in troops and ammunition after a lengthy delay in U.S. military aid. Western Europe’s inadequate military