Russian Drone Targets Communication Facilities, Signals Ukrainian TV And Radio Broadcasts Disappear

The impact of the Russian drone attack in the Sumy region of Ukraine. (Wikimedia Commons/State Emergency Service of Ukraine)

JAKARTA - The Sumy Authority, located on Ukraine's northeastern border, said some of its territory had lost television and radio signals on Thursday after Russia launched a overnight mass drone strike that damaged communications infrastructure.

Attacks with 36 drones hit four cities in the Sumy region and television facilities in neighboring Kharkiv, officials said, suggesting Moscow was trying new tactics to attack communications more than two years after its full-scale invasion.

"As a result of the damage, some areas in the region (temporary) cannot receive Ukrainian television and radio signals," the local government said in a statement via Telegram's message.

Local authorities also warned that cell phone signal networks in the region could be disrupted.

In the Kharkiv region, which also borders Russia in northeastern Ukraine, Governor By Synehubov said improvements were underway after TV infrastructure was damaged, but did not provide further details.

Russia is known to have launched a long-range attack on Ukraine since its invasion in February 2022, focusing on specific targets at different times.

During the first winter, Russia hit Ukraine's energy system with attacks that caused power outages to spread.

The integrated attack phase on communication infrastructure and television will represent a new pattern.

Sumy's regional military government said a Russian drone hit an apartment block. Two bodies were successfully removed from the rubble, an emergency service said on Telegram. Eight people were injured, while rescue teams continued to search the debris throughout the day.

The government said 30 apartments in a five-story residential building were damaged, 15 of which were mostly destroyed.

Meanwhile, the Ukrainian military, which is grappling with a significant reduction in arms supply from the West, said in a statement its air defenses had shot down 22 of the 36 drones launched by Russia overnight.

Five drones were shot down in the Mykolaiv region south of Ukraine and Dnipropxisk in the southeast, local officials said.