Russia hits second major bridge in Kyiv, mayor says city being torn apart

A Russian strike damaged a second major bridge in Kyiv on Saturday morning, Mayor Vitaliy Klitschko said, injuring two people and further disrupting traffic in the Ukrainian capital. The Pivnichnyi (Northern) Bridge suffered damage to its road surface and overhead trolleybus wires, causing traffic jams. Klitschko said emergency services were on their way and that traffic from the left to the right bank was blocked.

This follows multiple drone attacks on the Pivdennyi (Southern) Bridge this week. Both bridges cross the Dnipro River, linking the western and eastern parts of the city. Before Thursday, neither had been hit. The strikes have severed road, rail, and trolleybus links across the river, and ongoing drone threats have forced restrictions on other routes.

Klitschko warned that “the enemy is tearing Kyiv apart.” He described the situation as “very dramatic,” with Moscow battering critical infrastructure, logistics, housing, and other key facilities. Russia claimed the drones hit bridges used to transfer Ukrainian troops and military cargo, and urged foreign citizens, including diplomats, to leave Kyiv.

Fears of city being cut in two

Kyiv, home to about three million people, relies heavily on its metro system. But the repeated attacks have raised fears of a new Russian tactic: sustained strikes could cut the city in two. Experts say drones are unlikely to bring down the bridges, but repeated attacks force closures and risk weakening the structures. Some bridges are reportedly in poor condition after years of carrying heavier traffic than designed. Ukrainian lawmakers have discussed contingency plans, including ferries or temporary pontoon bridges.

Traffic jams continued for a second day, though Friday’s gridlock was not repeated to the same level. After the Pivdennyi Bridge attack, passengers said dust from the blast wave entered a metro carriage through the ventilation system.

Escalating strikes across Ukraine

In other attacks, a sailor on a Liberia-flagged civilian ship was killed and three crew members injured in a Russian strike on a Black Sea port in the Odesa region. At least 12 people were injured in overnight strikes on Dnipropetrovsk, Kharkiv, and Kyiv regions. Two people were killed and three injured in a Ukrainian drone attack in the occupied Luhansk region, according to a Moscow-installed official.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russian President Vladimir Putin has decided “no rules now” when attacking Ukraine. “They want to destroy our bridges… our data centres, the internet, mobile networks, hospitals, kindergartens, schools, universities – everything,” Zelensky said. Putin, meanwhile, said Russia’s attacks on Ukrainian economic targets are a direct response to Ukraine’s strikes on Russian oil refineries and ships in the Black Sea. He admitted Kyiv “got some results” from refinery attacks, costing Russia about 1% of GDP.