Russia targets Kyiv’s bridges: Northern Bridge hit after strikes on Southern Bridge

What happened

Early on Saturday, October 3, Russian forces struck the Northern Bridge in Kyiv. “The North Bridge has been hit. Emergency services are heading to the scene,” Mayor Vitali Klitschko wrote on Telegram. He later said the road surface and the trolleybus overhead wires had been damaged and that traffic from the left bank to the right bank was blocked.

By midday Klitschko reported two people injured: one received medical help at the scene, while the other was hospitalised and is now being treated as an outpatient. According to Ukrinform, traffic on the bridge remains restricted, with three lanes open from the left bank to the right and one lane in the opposite direction.

Russia’s Defence Ministry confirmed the strike, AP reported, claiming the bridge is used for troop movements and military cargo deliveries.

Public transport disrupted

Kyiv’s municipal transport company Kyivpastrans warned of delays on bus routes 21, 73, 101 and 114 and trolleybus routes 29, 30, 31 and 47. Buses 21, 73 and 101 have been diverted via the Podilskyi Bridge, Poshtova Ploshcha metro station and European Square. AP said the strike caused traffic tailbacks in the capital for a third day in a row.

A series of attacks on the Southern Bridge

The strike continues a run of attacks on Kyiv’s river crossings. As DW recalls, on October 1 two drones hit near a support of the Southern Bridge, and that evening another drone damaged a bridge pier, a crash barrier, the road surface and the protective concrete barrier of the metro line. Metro and surface transport across the bridge were halted. The bridge was attacked again on the morning of October 2, and that evening Klitschko reported yet another hit. The Kyiv Independent described the October 2 strike as the fourth such drone strike in two days.

On the same day, AP reported, Russian attacks forced the full or partial closure of three of Kyiv’s six road bridges over the Dnipro. According to Ukrinform, the Southern Bridge is now closed to vehicles and the metro regardless of air-raid alerts, while temporary restrictions apply on some other bridges during alerts.

At a meeting of the city’s defence council on October 2, Klitschko said the metro was ready to resume service across the Southern Bridge during a “yellow” alert level, but only after scientific institutes issue an expert assessment of the structure, which the Infrastructure Ministry has requested, Kyiv Post reported.

Mass overnight attack

According to Ukraine’s Air Force, from the evening of October 2 Russia launched 157 attack drones, including 45 jet-powered ones. Air defences shot down or suppressed 131 of them; hits were recorded at 12 locations. Across Ukraine, Russian attacks over the past day killed at least eight civilians and injured 83, the Kyiv Independent tallied.

Context

AP notes that Russia has previously hit apartment blocks, supermarket warehouses, gas stations and data centres in Kyiv. The agency describes the bridge strikes as a new Russian tactic aimed at disrupting life in the Ukrainian capital.