so this is fascinating. "expanding walls of light" were spotted in areas associated with soviet icbm tests in the '80s. supposition is that it was some attempt to blind or confuse early warning satellites:http://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/26356/mysterious-russian-dome-of-light-baffled-us-spy-plane-pilot-during-cold-war-missions …
While it's possible to destroy a low orbiting and non-evasive satellite, it's actually a lot more difficult to destroy one if it knows an attack is possible since a very minor inclination change will completely evade an attack. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-satellite_weapon …