Mass Russian drone strike hits northeast Ukraine, disrupts TV signal

The northeastern Ukrainian border region of Sumy said parts of its territory had lost television and radio signal on Thursday after Russia launched a mass overnight drone attack that damaged communications infrastructure.

The attack with 36 drones hit four cities in Sumy region and television facilities in neighboring Kharkiv region, officials said, suggesting Moscow was trying a new tactic of striking at communications more than two years into its full-scale invasion.

“As a result of the damage, part of the territory of the region (temporarily) cannot receive Ukrainian television and radio signal,” the region’s administration said in a statement on Telegram messenger.

It also warned that mobile phone signal in the area could be disrupted.

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Picture shows the aftermath of a Russian drone strike that heavily damaged an apartment building in Sumy, Ukraine on March 13, 2024. (REUTERS/Vitalii Hnidyi)

In Kharkiv region, which also borders Russia in northeast Ukraine, governor Oleh Synehubov said repairs were underway after TV infrastructure was struck, but gave no further details.

Russia has conducted long-range strikes on Ukraine since its Feb. 2022 invasion, focusing on particular targets at different junctures. During the first winter, Russia pounded Ukraine’s energy system with strikes, causing widespread blackouts.

A concerted phase of attacks on communications and television infrastructure would represent a new pattern.

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Ukraine’s military, which has been grappling with significantly reduced weapons supplies from the West, said in a statement that its air defenses had shot down 22 of the 36 drones launched by Russia overnight.

Five were shot down over Ukraine’s southern Mykolaiv and southeastern Dnipropetrovsk regions, local officials said.