Russian Drone Strikes Force Closure of Kyiv Bridges, Snarling Traffic Across the Dnipro

Repeated Russian drone strikes forced the closure of three bridges across the Dnipro River in Kyiv on Friday, choking traffic across the Ukrainian capital in what Mayor Vitalii Klitschko described as a “very dramatic” situation, according to Reuters and the Associated Press.

The Southern Bridge was first struck on Thursday, briefly reopened after a structural assessment, then hit again overnight — damaging a bridge pier, the road surface and a protective concrete barrier along the subway line, Klitschko said. An evening strike on the closed bridge was the latest in the series, Reuters reported. The Southern Bridge is now closed in both directions; the Paton Bridge is open one way only and partial restrictions apply to the Metro Bridge, city officials said on Telegram.

Long queues snaked through the city as commuters sought alternative routes. One resident told the AP traffic was “jammed solid” and it took him 45 minutes to cover four kilometres. More than a third of Kyiv’s three million residents live on the eastern bank of the Dnipro, while most government institutions and companies sit on the western bank.

A drone strike earlier on Friday set fire to the upper floors of a Kyiv apartment building, killing one person and injuring two, officials said. In the northeastern city of Kharkiv, a guided-bomb strike killed two people and wounded 32, the regional governor said. Russia’s defence ministry said its drones hit the bridge, a power station, the Izmail port and a cargo vessel, claiming all were used for military purposes.

Meanwhile, Ukraine’s top diplomat said Kyiv had received separate proposals for a partial truce from the United States, India, Turkey and Egypt, which would halt attacks on energy infrastructure and Black Sea shipping. In Geneva, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, said: “The war in Ukraine is a human rights catastrophe that is growing and intensifying by the week.”

Sources

• Reuters — Russian air strikes hit Southern Bridge in Kyiv again
• Associated Press — Russian aerial strikes snarl traffic on 3 Kyiv bridges
• Times News Network — Traffic chaos in Kyiv as Russian drone strikes close key bridge