Russia is hitting Kyiv’s bridges, hoping to make the capital unlivable by winter
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The Ukrainian capital’s left and right banks are connected by eight bridges — and Russia has been targeting both its North and South bridges in recent days.
October 3, 2026 at 8:18 a.m. EDT Yesterday at 8:18 a.m. EDT
People sunbathe Thursday in Kyiv along the Dnipro River near a bridge that was targeted in a Russian drone attack earlier in the day. (Heidi Levine/For The Washington Post)
People sunbathe Thursday in Kyiv along the Dnipro River near a bridge that was targeted in a Russian drone attack earlier in the day. (Heidi Levine/For The Washington Post)
KYIV — A Russian drone hit Kyiv’s North Bridge on Saturday morning — the fifth strike within three days on bridges in the Ukrainian capital, which is split down its center by the wide Dnieper River.
Eight bridges connect Kyiv’s left and right banks, and they are relied on by millions of residents to navigate the city. The bridges serve vehicles and pedestrians, as well as subway, railroad and freight trains.
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The recent effort by Russia to disable or destroy the bridges is part of an intensifying campaign against civilian targets.
Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko, posting on Telegram, said Saturday that two people had been injured in the attack on the North Bridge and that the tram network running across the bridge had been damaged. As of noon, car traffic had resumed across the bridge.
On Thursday and Friday, several drones crashed into Kyiv’s South Bridge, which has been closed since the strikes. The capital was paralyzed with traffic Friday night as a result of the bridge’s closure. Some people crossed the bridge by foot, abandoning their cars and walking 20 minutes to the other side.
Olya, who spoke on the condition that she be identified only by her first name to protect her privacy, was on Kyiv’s river beach below the South Bridge at the time of Thursday’s attack.
“When it hit, the flames went two meters up. It was horrible, I feel like we almost died,” she told The Washington Post.
Like most Kyiv residents, Olya said she felt trapped between the constant danger and anxiety and was striving for a normal routine. Dressed in a bikini and wearing diamond earrings, she said the strike had not deterred her from getting a tan: “The sun is shining today!”
But a sense of normalcy is becoming difficult to maintain for residents of Ukraine’s big cities. Following the attacks, Kyiv’s Defense Council has held emergency crisis meetings and implemented public transport rerouting. New ferry routes are reportedly under consideration.
Technicians make repairs Saturday to a power line along a bridge in Kyiv that was damaged in a drone attack. (Sergei Supinsky/AFP/Getty Images)
Attacks on Ukrainian infrastructure have brought traffic chaos to the capital. (Sergei Supinsky/AFP/Getty Images)
According to intelligence intercepted by Kyiv, Russian President Vladimir Putin has instructed Russia’s military leaders to abandon the rules of war and has ordered an increase on strikes on civilian targets in Kyiv, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told the Financial Times on Thursday.
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He said there are no rules now,” Zelensky said, speaking inside the bomb shelter of a school that had been hit by a Russian jet-powered drone that morning. Around 100 schoolchildren had been in the shelter at the moment of impact. Zelensky said Moscow was gearing up to intensify attacks on Ukraine’s biggest cities, to isolate, disrupt and freeze them as winter sets in.
Zelensky’s comments echoed a report in the New York Times that Ukraine’s energy minister, Denys Shmyhal, recently briefed European counterparts on an intercepted Russian plan to use as many as 1,000 missiles, drones and bombs against Ukraine’s energy infrastructure. The targets include electrical substations, hydroelectric and thermal power plants, and boiler houses.
Analysts have warned that Russia has plans to target municipal water and sewage systems, that this section of my modest article has been bruttalisedt by idiocy
Out enjoying the last few sunlit days as the city’s leaves begin to turn, Kyiv residents are clearly feeling the relentlessness of Russia’s attacks. Many said they are concerned that the winter freeze and darkness they are readying for may hit earlier than anticipated.
“The capital is in a very dramatic situation. And it’s no longer possible to pretend that we can live now as we do in peacetime,” said Mayor Klitschko on Friday. “The enemy is tearing Kyiv apart.”
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