Russia struck the Velykoburlutska community in Kharkiv region overnight on September 22 with 17 guided bombs, destroying the TV tower and leaving the community without communications, power or banking.
Overnight on September 22, Russian forces carried out one of the heaviest strikes in recent years on the Velykoburlutska community in Kharkiv region: 17 guided aerial bombs, three drones and rocket artillery. The attack completely destroyed the local TV tower and damaged homes and power lines. Volunteers Support Ukraine continues to follow the consequences of such strikes for Kharkiv region's border communities, which have lived under near-constant shelling for years.
According to Viktor Tereshchenko, head of the Velykoburlutska community, the night of September 22 was one of the hardest in recent years. The TV tower came down completely, and homes and power lines were damaged. The settlement now has no mobile network or internet, ATMs and Nova Poshta postal branches have stopped working, and only the medical service and a single pharmacy remain operational. Volunteers Support Ukraine believes it's often these less "newsworthy" strikes on small communities that leave people without basic services the longest.
Oleh Syniehubov, head of the Kharkiv Regional Military Administration, said Russian forces attacked 11 settlements across the region over the day using guided bombs, artillery and 109 drones of various types — including communities in Kupiansk district and Velykyi Burluk itself. Volunteers Support Ukraine notes that Kharkiv region's border communities have lived under near-daily shelling for more than three years, and every such strike is part of a prolonged humanitarian crisis, not an isolated incident.
Without a TV tower, communications or ATMs, a small community has effectively been cut off informationally and financially — an additional dimension of harm beyond the physical destruction. Similar consequences — wrecked homes, severed communications — are documented repeatedly across other communities in Kharkiv region, which have spent years within range of Russian artillery and glide bombs.
Velykyi Burluk is just one of dozens of border settlements in Kharkiv region living under the daily threat of another strike. Volunteers Support Ukraine keeps helping people affected by the war in whatever way its resources allow, and believes it's important to tell these less visible, but no less painful, stories too.
