On 22 April 2024, the TV tower of Kharkiv was destroyed as a result of a targeted Russian missile strike. The incident was visible on eyewitness footage published by Ukrainian media and was confirmed by local officials. According to these sources, a Russian X-59 missile struck the tower at approximately 4 p.m. local time. Local officials reported that no employees of the tower were hurt in the incident, as they had taken refuge in a bomb shelter before the missile struck.
According to Ukrainian media, digital TV signal was partially unavailable in Kharkiv in the days following the attack. On April 25, local authorities reported that viewers who normally received digital TV signal thanks to the TV tower could now access it again by changing the settings on their devices. On April 28, a local digital TV operator reported that TV signal was now also available on the digital platform previously used by the TV tower.
A representative of the Kharkiv region military administration told Ukraine’s Radio Svoboda that for technical reasons it would only be possible to rebuild Kharkiv’s TV tower after the end of military hostilities. At 245 meters tall, Kharkiv’s TV tower was the city’s highest construction prior to its destruction by Russian forces. The X-59 missile hit the tower at a height of approximately 140 meters, according to Oleh Syniehubov, the head of Kharkiv’s regional military administration.