Posted on 04/22/2024 7:09:49 PM PDT by bimboeruption
In the last weeks, there has been increased chatter on the Ukrainian side about an imminent Russian attack on the large city of Kharkov, located near the border.
Sure enough, its power facilities have been heavily damaged by massive missile strikes.
Today, the attacks went a little further, as a cruise missile struck and broke in half a 240-meter television tower.
The attack would be part of a ‘deliberate effort by Moscow to make Ukraine’s second largest city uninhabitable,’ according to President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Footage going viral online shows the main mast of the television tower breaking off and falling to the ground.
pic.twitter.com/4QZGk4iWgf
— Paul Serran (@paul_serran) April 22, 2024
Reuters reported:
“The Ukrainian leader said he told U.S. President Joe Biden about the airstrike that was carried out several minutes before they spoke by telephone.
‘It is Russia’s clear intention to make the city uninhabitable’, he said in a readout of the call published on the Telegram messaging app.
The northeastern city of Kharkov with a population of 1.3 million lies just 30 km (18 miles) from the Russian border, making it an easy target for ballistic missiles and other weapons as Ukraine’s air defenses have dwindled.”
There have been no reported casualties in what appeared to have been a strike with a Kh-59 cruise missile.
“[Ukrainian authorities] said there was “temporarily” no television signal and that they were working to restore it, urging residents of the city and region without digital television signal to use cable or online television or the radio.”
pic.twitter.com/9RtFAYMmw3
— Paul Serran (@paul_serran) April 22, 2024
Moscow has recently stepped up its attacks, while Ukraine is suffering a shortage of air defense capabilities. Kharkov and the surrounding region have experienced the most intense strikes.
pic.twitter.com/HiM5sxCuXc
— Paul Serran (@paul_serran) April 22, 2024
While Reuters is usually satisfied with Zelensky’s explanations of events, we can learn a lot by paying attention to Russian sources.
Slavyangrad reported on the possible objectives for the attack:
“Communication – powerful repeaters were installed on it. propaganda (television/radio) was broadcast from the tower to the territory of the Belgorod region. This includes cellular communications, internet, and TV broadcasting.
[…] ‘Eyes’ – it is possible that the ‘Sova (Owl)’ system (an optical reconnaissance device) could be installed – a complex consisting of several IP cameras. They are all connected to a neural network, which calculates where the artillery is flying. This means they receive data from the point of impact as quickly as possible.
From a military perspective, a full range of reconnaissance and guidance system repeater antennas could be installed there. These are used for drone attacks on Russian territory, artillery reconnaissance, and detection and tracking systems for attack UAVs, ballistic and cruise missiles.”
They’re going after the media like our government does!
And with that kind of accuracy I bet they could put one up Zelinsky’s azz. I’d shop around for a deeper bunker.
Looks like the Ukrainians won’t be watching Mike Johnson on TV giving them billions more dollars.
This looks to me like optical terminal guidance.
One programs the vehicle’s guidance with lat/long and altitude at launch. There will be some tiny drift in the Ring Laser Gyros, and even in the linear accelerometers, which would ordinarily be of small significance, but that is a tiny target so even small drift would not be acceptable.
And thus, on approach, a transition would be made to an optical pattern recognition guidance package to hit the vertical structure that high over the ground.
Pretty good tech. Not a cruise missile. The boom is too small. Not a drone, probably, not enough payload.
Just a very accurately guided short distance missile.
Reasonably impressive. The guidance btw depended on a copy of that pattern having been stored from a recording during a previous dry run. Then uploaded to the targeting package on the missile.
This is not trivial stuff.
Does anybody care about this crap anymore?
Wow, good find. Impressive video.
Or, the antenna got in the way of one of the “budget” drones used by Russia.
Not that big a deal. Rig a couple elements up on what’s left, coverage in the city will be fine. People 50 km away may lose signal, though.
A distillation tower in Russia would be a good trade.
As noted, not enough payload.
Nah, this was a very good shot.
The Ukies will be marching to Moscow very soon.
>>>>The Ukies will be marching to Moscow very soon.<<<<
When President Trump returns to the Oval Office, this proxy war will be over very quickly.
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