Key Kyiv bridge hit by Russian drones fourth time in 2 days

A Russian drone struck the Southern Bridge over the Dnipro River in Kyiv around 5:40 p.m. local time, as Russia takes aim at the bridge for two days straight.

At the time of the fourth drone strike, the bridge was still closed for traffic from an earlier attack in the morning, said Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko. Black smoke could be seen rising over the bridge, while the damage to the structure is not yet determined.

The Russian attack coincided with Kyiv's evening rush hour, adding further stress to the already congested city. Kyiv's other main bridges across the Dnipro River, the Darnytskyi Bridge, Metro Bridge, and Podilskyi Bridge, have been changed to single direction traffic, according to the Kyiv City Military Administration (KMDA).

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.

The Southern Bridge is one of the capital's main traffic arteries and connects important transport routes like the the M-05 Kyiv-Odesa, M-06 Kyiv-Chop, and M-03 Kyiv-Kharkiv-Izyum-Sloviansk highways. Every day, between 100,000 and 110,000 cars use the bridge, according to information from the Darnytskyi District administration from 2019.

Head of the Desnyanskyi district of Kyiv, Maksym Bakhmatov, told The Village in a 2020 interview that about 90% of transit traffic between the two banks passes through the Southern Bridge.

Hlib Vyshlinsky, executive director of the Center for Economic Strategy told the Kyiv Independent that the Southern Bridge is also crucial for the daily commute of the Pozniaky-Osokorky-Kharkivsky districts conglomeration that houses up to 500,000 people.

Serhii Fursa, deputy managing director at investment firm Dragon Capital, told the Kyiv Independent that these attacks are unlikely to affect the Ukrainian economy massively.

"I do not think there is significant economic effect by this attack. But there is moderate negative impact. But we would not see it on GDP level numbers. There are a number of bridges," he said.

The earlier closure of the bridge in Kyiv caused major traffic jams across the capital and disrupted public transport between the city's eastern and western banks, city authorities said on Oct. 2.

The KMDA said on Oct. 2 that the Southern Bridge was closed in both directions. Some public buses were rerouted via the Darnytskyi Bridge.

According to Klitschko, movement on the Metro Bridge is limited to one lane from the eastern bank toward the western bank, while traffic on the Paton Bridge is fully restricted from the western bank toward the eastern bank.

Amid the disruption, some Kyiv residents were crossing the Dnipro River bridges on foot as traffic remained heavily congested, social media footage showed.

The Southern Bridge, which carries both road traffic and the metro across the Dnipro, was struck multiple times on Oct. 1 and early Oct. 2. Its road surface, a bridge support, a guardrail, and a protective concrete structure around the metro line were damaged in the attacks.

Russian drones struck near the bridge's supports at around 11:30 a.m. on Oct. 1 while cars and a metro train were crossing, according to Klitschko. Traffic was temporarily halted, but city officials later said a preliminary inspection found no critical structural damage and reopened the bridge.

The bridge was hit again overnight on Oct. 2, with the latest strike damaging a bridge support, part of the road surface, a barrier and a protective concrete structure around the metro line, Klitschko said.

Emergency crews were sent to the site and the metro tracks were de-energized. Traffic, including metro and surface public transport, was subsequently suspended.

A Russian overnight attack on Kyiv killed one person and injured two others, local authorities reported early on Oct. 2.

Kyiv has faced repeated Russian attacks in recent days. A large-scale Russian missile and drone attack beginning on Sept. 30 killed four people and injured at least eight, while also damaging residential and energy infrastructure in the capital.

Tis week alone, the capital had 56 air raid sirens, lasting over 87 hours in total, KMDA said on Oct. 2.