At least three people were killed and 16 others were wounded in Russian shelling in Kharkiv (northeast), Ukraine’s second-largest city, regional governor Oleh Sinekhubov announced today.

“The enemy again used the tactic of a double strike, while doctors, rescue crews and law enforcement forces were already on the ground,” added Mr. Sinekhubov, adding that the injured included an intensivist and at least two children.

According to initial reports, two missiles of a modified S-300 system were launched against the Novobavarsky district, targeting “exclusively civilian infrastructure”, the regional governor added.

According to Kharkiv’s police chief, who spoke to the state-run Suspilne television network, an apartment building, a shop in a three-story building and a sewing workshop were hit.

The attacks took place around midnight.

Regional governor Sinekhubov warned earlier that other residents may be trapped in the rubble of the apartment building. At least three of its floors were destroyed.

The attack follows a May 25 attack on a shopping mall in Kharkiv, in which 19 people were killed, according to the latest official count.

Kharkiv is now an almost daily target of bombing, mainly from Russian territory.

Earlier this month, Russian armed forces launched a ground offensive in Ukraine’s eponymous region, making territorial gains as the Ukrainian military struggles.

US President Joe Biden, who has so far refused to agree to it, has given the green light for Ukrainian armed forces to strike, under conditions, targets on Russian soil, US officials said on Thursday on condition that they not be named in various media.

One of the sources said, however, that Washington still opposes strikes with weapons it provides to Kiev against targets deep inside Russian territory, without elaborating further.

In Kharkiv, a Russian attack to capture the city, a short distance from the border of the two states, was repelled in the first weeks of the war, which broke out on February 24, 2022.