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The U.S.-made weapons could be used on parts of Ukraine’s border with Russia to counter any attack on the Moscow city of Kharkiv. Joe Biden has decided to ease a key constraint on Ukraine’s ability to defend itself. “The president recently directed his team to allow Ukraine to use U.S.-supplied weapons for counter-fire purposes in the Kharkiv region, allowing Ukraine to strike back against Russian forces that are attacking or preparing to attack,” a U.S. official said. The change also allows Ukrainian forces to target Russian forces massing across the border in the Belgorod region, but it leaves restrictions on the use of U.S. long-range missiles to attack inside Russia.
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Russian missiles struck three locations in Ukraine’s second-largest city, Kharkiv, killing at least three people and wounding 16, local authorities said. A missile attack occurred in Kharkiv early on Friday. Reuters reported that the missiles hit a five-storey apartment building, a shop in a three-storey building and a garment factory. Regional governor Oleh Shniekhbov said the attack on the Novobazarsky district used the “double tap” technique, meaning a second strike was made immediately after the first. He said that according to preliminary information, S-300 missiles were used. Kharkiv Mayor Igor Terekhov spoke to state broadcaster Suspirny about the damage to the apartment building. “The third, fourth and fifth floors were destroyed, the staircase was destroyed, the facade was destroyed,” the mayor said. Shniekhbov said the attack took place around midnight local time and that the injured included at least two children.
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China’s support for Russia “not only threatens the security of Ukraine, but also the security of Europe.” State Department deputy spokesman Vedant Patel made the remarks a day after Washington accused Beijing’s leadership of backing Russia’s wars and threatened further Western sanctions. Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell and Deputy National Security Adviser John Finer met with Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Ma Chaoxu in Washington on Thursday. Patel did not provide details of upcoming sanctions but added that “the United States stands ready to take further steps if China does not scale back its support for Russia’s defense industrial base.” The Biden administration issued an executive order in December threatening sanctions against financial institutions that help Russia evade Western sanctions. Campbell said Chinese support, “backed by the leadership,” is helping Moscow rebuild elements of its military, including long-range missiles, artillery, drone capabilities and the ability to track battlefield movements.
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Russian authorities are increasingly targeting children and their families who oppose the Kremlin as punishment. Amnesty International said on Friday that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has weakened Russia’s military and threatened to invade Ukraine. The rights group said in a report that since the invasion, Russian authorities have used children to pressure parents, threatening to strip them of parental rights or imprison them in institutions. Some parents have had to flee Russia with their children to avoid being separated from them. “The Kremlin talks a lot about family values, but it is the very bond between children and parents that is shamelessly being used to suppress dissent,” said Oleg Kozlovsky, Amnesty’s Russia researcher. “In this politically motivated attack on children, schools and teachers have become tools of persecution and arbitrary state interference,” he said, adding that schools are indoctrinating children with “false government-mandated narratives.”
Reuters, Agence France-Presse
