Russia strikes second major bridge in Kyiv, mayor says

A Russian strike has hit a second major bridge in Kyiv, Mayor Vitali Klitschko has said, as Russia ramps up attacks on critical infrastructure in the Ukrainian capital.

The attack on Saturday morning damaged the road surface and trolleybus overhead wires on the Northern Bridge, Klitschko said, causing traffic to be blocked.

The strike comes after another key bridge in the city, Southern Bridge, was targeted multiple times by Russian drones on Thursday and Friday, with Klitschko earlier warning that such attacks were “tearing Kyiv apart”.

The Northern and Southern bridges link the eastern and western parts of the capital and had not been hit before Thursday, signalling a new stage in Moscow’s strategy.

Attacks on the Southern Bridge have caused major travel disruption since Thursday, with metro and car travel across it suspended.

Many of the city’s residents – which number about three million – rely on the metro to travel across the city.

Writing on Telegram on Saturday, Klitschko said: “Hitting the North Bridge. Emergency services are on their way.”

“Traffic on the bridge from the left to the right bank is currently blocked,” he added.

Earlier attacks on the Southern Bridge prompted Kyiv’s defence council to hold a crisis meeting on Friday, prompting Klitschko to warn afterwards that the city was now in a “very dramatic situation” as Moscow was battering its “critical infrastructure, logistics, housing” and other key facilities.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has said Russia is acting in response to Ukraine’s strikes on Russian energy facilities, despite the fact that it was Moscow that had first launched such attacks.

After the Southern Bridge was attacked, passengers described how dust from a blast wave entered their carriage through the ventilation system.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Putin had decided that there were “no rules now” when attacking Ukraine.

In an interview with the Financial Times, he said: “The Russians have failed to occupy us. So now they are carrying out massive attacks and mass killings.”

He added: “They want to destroy our bridges… our data centres, the internet, mobile networks, hospitals, kindergartens, schools, universities – everything. They want people to flee their cities.”

Source: BBC News