On 6 May 2024, Russian forces targeted a TV tower in Bilopillya, a city in Ukraine’s northern Sumy region, attacking the installation with aviation bombs, according to media reports. The TV tower went out of order as a result of the attack. Ukrainian media reported on the incident quoting messages and images posted by pro-Russian Telegram channels. The information was also confirmed by a local representative of the Institute of Mass Information (IMI), a Ukrainian press freedom group, in Sumy region.
Detector Media, another press freedom group, quoted a local representative of Ukraine’s national broadcasting council, who explained that the Russian missiles had damaged an electrical substation near the TV tower, as a result of which power had been cut at the installation and TV signal was absent in the region for some time. Reparation works were already being conducted as of May 8, according to broadcasting council representative Larysa Yakubenko. She added that this was the sixth time since the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion that the Bilopillya TV tower had been damaged as a result of Russian attacks. The most recent strike occurred this year on March 14, IMI reported.