Russia hits Kyiv's Northern Bridge for second day running, cutting capital in two

Russia struck Kyiv's Northern Bridge on Saturday morning, October 3, and hit it again on Sunday, October 4 — the second consecutive day of attacks on the crossing — as Moscow pursues what Ukrainian officials describe as a deliberate campaign to sever the Ukrainian capital along the Dnipro River.

The Saturday strike damaged the road surface and severed overhead electrical lines powering the city's trolleybuses, injuring two people. One was treated at the scene; the other was hospitalized before moving to outpatient recovery, according to Kyiv Post. On Sunday, a fresh impact blasted a crater into the road deck, with municipal emergency teams dispatched to assess whether further traffic restrictions were needed, Mayor Vitali Klitschko reported.

The Northern Bridge attacks follow a barrage on the Southern Bridge, which was struck five times in less than 24 hours starting October 1. That bridge — which carries both road traffic and the city's subway — remains closed. The Northern Bridge is partially closed. According to UPI, local authorities have shut five of the city's six bridges out of fear of further attacks.

The capital is in a very dire situation. And it is no longer possible to pretend that we can live as we did in peacetime. The enemy is laying waste to Kyiv. Infrastructure, critical infrastructure, logistics, housing, social facilities. The aggressor has also resumed its destruction of the energy sector. We are doing everything in our power to keep the city functioning under constant destructive attacks, when it is no longer a question of our usual comforts, but of safety and survival.— Vitaliy Klitschko, Mayor of Kyiv

The stakes are geographic and immediate. Kyiv is divided by the Dnipro River: the right bank holds the majority of the city's business centers, offices, and government institutions, while the left bank is predominantly residential and home to at least 30% of the capital's residents, according to CNN. Ukrainian officials say the strikes are effectively cutting the capital in two.

According to Meduza, these are the first Russian attacks on Kyiv's Dnipro bridges since the full-scale invasion began in February 2022. Kyiv has nine bridges across the river. Ukrainian experts cited by Meduza say drones alone cannot destroy the bridges but that sustained attacks can make them unsafe, forcing closures and severely disrupting movement across the city — an outcome already unfolding.

Russia's Ministry of Defense said it carried out the Saturday strike, claiming the Northern Bridge is used to move Ukrainian troops and military supplies. Russia also said it targeted a logistics center in the Kyiv region; Kyiv region military administration head Tymur Tkachenko said a warehouse and production premises were hit, injuring four people, according to CNN.

The Russians continue to turn our infrastructure and everything that supports ordinary life into their targets. This morning in Kyiv, a 'shahed' struck the Pivnichnyi Bridge. Overnight, residential buildings, railways and energy infrastructure in many regions came under Russian attack.— Volodymyr Zelensky, President of Ukraine

Ukraine's Air Force said Russia launched 157 attack drones and decoy drones overnight into Saturday. Air defenses shot down or neutralized 131 of them, according to CNN. Saturday's strike on the Northern Bridge triggered widespread disruption to Kyiv's public transit, with bus lines including Nos. 21, 73, and 101 rerouted, according to Kyiv Post.

CNN reported that Russia accelerated its campaign against Kyiv in late August, taking advantage of Ukraine's shortage of interceptors and limited other defenses against jet-powered drones. Klitschko called on the city to 'unite, as we did in February 2022.'

Beyond the bridge strikes, the broader picture on Saturday was one of widening attacks. Russia killed two people and injured three when it struck a Liberian-flagged ship in the Odessa region, the Ukrainian Sea Ports Authority said; twelve other crew members were evacuated safely. Zelensky said Ukrainian long-range strikes hit targets in Russia's Samara region and struck Iskander missile system positions in the Bryansk region.

As the bridge strikes began, Zelensky said Ukrainian intelligence services had intercepted communications indicating that President Vladimir Putin issued an order in September directing Russian military commanders to disregard the rules of warfare when carrying out airstrikes on Ukraine, according to Meduza. Meduza also reported that Western diplomats were preparing contingency plans to relocate their embassies from Kyiv, citing The Guardian; Ukraine's Foreign Ministry said it knew nothing about such plans. Russia separately called on Western diplomats to leave the city.

Why it matters — With most of Kyiv's Dnipro bridges now closed or restricted, Russia has for the first time since 2022 begun physically severing the Ukrainian capital, threatening the daily movement of hundreds of thousands of residents and raising the stakes for the city's survival as a functioning capital.

Reported by nytimes.com, cnn.com, upi.com, meduza.io, itv.com, kyivpost.com