Kharkiv, Ukraine
Reuters
A Russian missile strike that broke in half a 240-metre television tower in Kharkiv on Monday is part of a deliberate effort by Moscow to make Ukraine’s second largest city uninhabitable, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said.
Dramatic footage obtained by Reuters showed the main mast of the television tower breaking off and falling to the ground in the city that has been pounded by missile and drone strikes for weeks.
People stand next to a part of a television tower partially destroyed by a Russian missile strike, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, in Kharkiv, Ukraine on 22nd April, 2024. PICTURE: Reuters/Sofiia Gatilova
The Ukrainian leader said he told US President Joe Biden about the airstrike that was carried out several minutes before they spoke by telephone.
“It is Russia’s clear intention to make the city uninhabitable,” he said in a readout of the call published on the Telegram messaging app.
Later, in his nightly video address, the president said the attack was “an obvious attempt at intimidation so that the terror was visible to the whole city and an attempt to limit Kharkiv’s access to communication and information”.
Close to the border
The north-eastern city of Kharkiv with a population of 1.3 million lies just 30 kilometres from the Russian border, making it an easy target for ballistic missiles and other weapons as Ukraine’s air defences have dwindled.
Its power facilities have been damaged particularly badly since Russia last month began targeting the energy system with massive strikes.
“At the moment there are interruptions to the digital television signal,” Regional Governor Oleh Synehubov said.
There had been no casualties because its workers had taken shelter, he added.
Synehubov later reported a missile attack had triggered a fire at a poultry farm outside Kharkiv, but without casualties. And prosecutors said one person was killed in the shelling of a village south-east of the city.
Reuters footage filmed at the scene of the aftermath showed the collapsed section of the tower lying in a forested strip nearby. Buildings next to the tower had been badly damaged by falling debris.
The Service for State Special Communications said the structure of the tower had been “partially damaged” in what prosecutors said appeared to have been a strike with a Kh-59 cruise missile.
It said there was “temporarily” no television signal and that they were working to restore it, urging residents of the city and region without digital television signal to use cable or online television or the radio.
A view shows a television tower partially destroyed by a Russian missile strike, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, in Kharkiv, Ukraine on 22nd April, 2024. PICTURE: Reuters/Vyacheslav Madiyevskyy
The footage obtained by Reuters did not capture the impact of a missile, but showed a cloud of smoke rise into the sky as the mast fell.
The video was verified by corroborating video from another angle showing the same moment the top of the tower collapsed.
Russia first attacked Kharkiv’s television tower several times in early March 2022 soon after it launched its full-scale invasion. The signal was disrupted at the time.
Moscow has recently stepped up its attacks, while Ukraine is suffering a shortage of air defence capabilities. Kharkiv and the surrounding region have experienced the most intense strikes.
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Meanwhile, Russia said on Monday its forces had taken control of Novomykhailivka in eastern Ukraine- the second advance Moscow has announced in two days – but Ukraine’s military fighting there said it was still in control of the village.
Reuters could not independently verify whether Novomykhailivka, some 40 kilometres south-west of the Ukrainian city of Donetsk, is in Ukrainian or Russian hands. Heavy battles in the area have been going on for weeks.
Russia’s defence ministry said in a statement that its Southern group of forces had fully taken Novomykhailivka “and improved the tactical situation along the front line”.
But Yevhen Shmataliuk, commander of Ukraine’s 79th amphibious assault brigade, which has been fighting on the Donetsk frontline, said his troops hold 15 per cent to 20 per cent of the village, while the rest of it is under Ukraine’s “fire control.”
“We are not going to move anywhere but forward,” Shmataliuk said in an interview with Ukraine’s public broadcaster and published on the brigade’s Facebook page.
Servicemen of the 1148th separate artillery brigade of Air Assault Troops of Ukraine fire a M777 howitzer towards Russian troops, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, in Donetsk region, Ukraine, on 20th April, 2024. PICTURE: Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty/Serhii Nuzhnenko via Reuters/File photo
On Sunday Russia said it had taken control of the settlement of Bohdanivka, further to the north. Bohdanivka lies northeast of Chasiv Yar, a strategic town located on high ground which, if captured, could open up the way for Russia to advance on several “fortress cities” in eastern Ukraine.
The Russian gains, if confirmed, underline the urgency for Ukraine of taking delivery of more than $US60 billion in new US military aid that the House of Representatives approved on Saturday. It is expected to be approved this week by the Senate and signed into law by President Joe Biden.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy urged Washington on Sunday to quickly turn the bill into law and proceed with the actual transfer of weapons, saying long-range arms and air defence systems were top priorities.
The Kremlin said on Monday that the new US aid would not change the situation on the front lines.
The influx of weapons should improve Kyiv’s chances of averting a major Russian breakthrough in the east, military analysts say, but Kyiv still faces manpower shortages on the battlefield.
– With Reuters correspondents and OLEKSANDR KOZHUKHAR
