Russia hits a second major bridge in Kyiv, traffic situation in the capital worsens

A Russian strike has hit a second major bridge in Kyiv, Mayor Vitali Klitschko said, amid an increase in attacks on critical infrastructure in the Ukrainian capital.

Saturday morning’s strike damaged the road surface and cables on the Northern Bridge, Klitschko said.

The strike comes after the city’s Southern Bridge has been targeted several times by Russian drones since Thursday, with Klitschko having previously warned that such attacks were “destroying Kyiv.”

The two bridges link the eastern and western parts of the capital and had not been hit before Thursday, signalling a new phase in Moscow’s attacks. In Thursday’s attack, a Russian drone hit the cables of Kyiv’s Pivdenny Bridge.

Writing on Telegram on Saturday, Klitschko said: “I am hitting the Northern Bridge. Emergency services are on their way.”

“Traffic on the bridge from the left bank to the right is currently blocked,” he added.

Earlier attacks on the Southern Bridge led Kyiv’s defence council to hold a crisis meeting on Friday.

After the meeting, Klitschko said the city was now in a “very dramatic situation,” as Moscow was damaging “its critical infrastructure, logistics, housing” and other key facilities.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has said Russia is acting in response to Ukraine’s attacks on Russian energy facilities, despite the fact that it was Moscow that first launched such attacks.

After the attack on the Southern Bridge on Thursday, passengers described how dust from a blast wave entered their carriage through the ventilation system.

Metro trains were suspended, but road traffic was allowed to resume.