Russia strikes key Kyiv bridge for 3rd straight day as attacks intensify

Editor's note: This is a developing story and is being updated.

Russian forces launched a strike on the Northern Bridge over the Dnipro River in Kyiv in the morning hours of Oct. 3 as Russia again takes aim at key bridges in the capital for the third straight day.

Explosions were reported in the city shortly after 6:30 a.m. amid reports of drones approaching the capital. Videos posted to social media of the purported attack appear to show a large explosion on the bridge that connects the right bank of the city with the left bank as vehicles pass by.

Mayor Vitali Klitschko said that the bridge's surface as well as trolleybus overhead power lines have been damaged in the attack. Movement over the bridge was halted following the strike.

The full extent of the damage caused was not immediately clear.

The latest strike marks follows days Russian attacks on key bridges within the capital. A day prior on Oct. 2, a Russian drone struck the Southern Bridge over the Dnipro River — marking the fourth such drone strike in two days.

Kostiantyn Kryvolap, an aviation expert and former Antonov test engineer, told the Kyiv Independent that destruction of the bridge is most likely not the intent behind Russia's strikes.

"Destroying a bridge with a 50-kilogram explosive charge, even with a highly effective warhead designed to destroy steel bridge structures, is a major exaggeration. It is practically impossible. For a bridge like this, these strikes are more like mosquito bites," he said.

Instead, the idea behind the Russian strikes may rather be to halt traffic, interrupt logistics, and exert psychological pressure on Kyiv's population, according to him.

Both the Northern and Southern bridges serve as some of the capital's main traffic arteries, with tens of thousands of the city's residents passing over the bridges daily.