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A Russian strike hit Kyiv’s Northern Bridge on Saturday, halting traffic from the left bank to the right and deepening a transport crisis that began when the Southern Bridge was shut a day earlier.
Mayor Vitali Klitschko announced the strike on Telegram after a drone alert in the capital. “Northern Bridge has been hit,” he wrote. “Emergency services are heading to the scene.”
He later reported damage to the road surface and to the overhead wires that power trolleybuses on the bridge. “Traffic across the bridge from the left bank to the right bank is currently blocked,” he said.
The strike is the latest in a series aimed at the crossings over the Dnipro, the river that separates Kyiv’s eastern and western districts. Eight bridges connect the two sides, and city officials say the campaign is “tearing Kyiv apart”.
The Southern Bridge, a cable-stayed span and one of the city’s main crossings, was closed on Friday after waves of fast, jet-powered drones struck. Officials said it had been hit several times since Thursday. Movement on another bridge was also restricted.
The closures brought severe congestion across the city. Cars and buses stood in long queues on major roads as drivers looked for other ways across, and some commuters had to finish their journeys on foot.
Klitschko warned on Friday that the capital should now be on a war footing.
Since Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022, the war has largely been fought on the ground in the east, and Kyiv has mostly been spared the destruction seen near the front line.
Additional sources • AFP