Tearing Kyiv apart: Russia hits the Northern Bridge, the second major crossing in days

Kyiv, Oct 3 — Russia struck a second major bridge in Kyiv on Saturday morning, hitting the Northern Bridge across the Dnipro river in an air attack that damaged the road surface and overhead trolleybus cables and suspended traffic between the capital's eastern and western banks. Mayor Vitali Klitschko announced the strike on Telegram: "The North Bridge has been hit. Emergency services are en route." No casualties were reported, but the damage to the carriageway and the trolleybus wires cut a vital artery of the city. Explosions were reported just after 6:30 a.m., with videos showing a large blast on the bridge as vehicles passed. The Northern Bridge is the second major crossing targeted in days. In the previous two days, the Southern Bridge was struck several times by Russian drones — the fourth drone strike in two days came on Friday — forcing the temporary suspension of traffic across it and two other bridges over the vast river. The stakes are enormous. More than a third of the capital's three million residents lived on the eastern, or left, bank of the Dnipro before Russia's 2022 invasion, while the vast majority work on the western, right bank, where most government institutions and companies sit. Around half a million people commute from the left bank to the right bank every day. Klitschko, who convened a crisis meeting of the city's security council on Friday, has described the situation as "very dramatic" and the city as in a "critical situation". "The enemy is tearing Kyiv apart — destroying infrastructure, critical infrastructure, logistics networks, housing and social facilities," he wrote. "The aggressor has once again set out to destroy our energy system." The bridge strikes come a week after what Kyiv saw as the first salvo of an expected winter bombing campaign against the power facilities supplying the capital. Memories of last winter — the worst of the war — are prominent in residents' minds. Moscow has previously denied systematically targeting civilians as part of its bombing campaigns.