Kyiv bridge attack: Russia strikes second crossing in days

Southern Bridge attacks force crisis meeting

According to Kyiv's mayor Vitali Klitschko it is the second major river crossing targeted in the Ukrainian capital this week, causing traffic and terror in its making.

The strike damaged the road surface and trolleybus overhead wires, blocking traffic between the eastern and western banks.

Emergency crews were sent to the scene as officials assessed the damage.

The attack follows repeated drone strikes on Kyiv's Southern Bridge on Thursday and Friday.

Those strikes suspended both metro and car travel across the river, creating a troubling infrastructure meltdown as neither bridge had been hit before this week.

The attacks mark a new stage in Russia's campaign against the capital's infrastructure, as Kyiv's defence council held a crisis meeting on Friday after the earlier strikes.

What the Kyiv bridge attack means for the city

About three million people live in Kyiv. Many rely on these bridges and the metro lines beneath them to cross the Dnipro river each day.

Hitting both crossings within days disrupts daily life across the capital.

It is a shift away from targeting the front line. Klitschko had already warned, after Friday's strikes, that the city was in a "very dramatic situation".

President Volodymyr Zelensky said Putin had decided there were "no rules now" in his campaign against Ukraine.

Putin has said the strikes are retaliation for Ukrainian attacks on Russian energy facilities, though Moscow struck first.

Russian drones struck the Southern Bridge, also known as the Pivdennyi bridge, on both Thursday and Friday.

The strikes cut cables and suspended both metro and car travel across it.

Passengers on a train passing through at the time described dust from the blast wave as it entered the carriage through the ventilation system.

Which bridges in Kyiv have been hit?

• Northern Bridge was struck on Saturday 3 October, blocking traffic and damaging trolleybus wires.
• Southern Bridge (Pivdennyi) was hit by drones on Thursday 1 and Friday 2 October, suspending metro and car travel.

Klitschko has not given a motive. He said the attacks were battering the city's "critical infrastructure, logistics, housing" and other key facilities.