Russia strikes Kharkiv TV tower

Zelenskyy calls attack intimidation tactic by Kremlin

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said a Russian missile strike that smashed a prominent skyline television tower in Kharkiv was part of the Kremlin’s effort to intimidate Ukraine’s second-largest city, which in recent weeks has come under increasingly frequent attack.

The strike sought to “make the terror visible to the whole city and to try to limit Kharkiv’s connection and access to information,” Zelenskyy said in a Monday evening address.

The northeastern Kharkiv region straddles the approximately 1,000kilometre front line where Ukrainian and Russian forces have been locked in battle for more than two years since Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The front line has changed little during a war of attrition, focused mostly on artillery, drones and trenches.

Since late March, Russia has stepped up the pressure on Kharkiv, apparently aiming to exploit Ukraine’s shortage of air defence systems. It has pounded the power grid and hit apartment blocks.

On Monday, a Russian Kh-59 missile struck Kharkiv’s 250-metrehigh TV tower, breaking it roughly in half and halting transmissions.

A Washington think tank said Russia may be eyeing a ground assault on Kharkiv.

“The Kremlin is conducting a concerted air and information operation to destroy Kharkiv City, convince Ukrainians to flee, and internally displace millions of Ukrainians ahead of a possible future Russian offensive operation against the city or elsewhere in Ukraine,” the Institute for the Study of War said.