Kyiv mayor warns Russian strikes are tearing capital apart as key bridge hit again

The Pivdennyi, or Southern, bridge in Kyiv was hit again on Friday evening, the fourth Russian strike on the crossing in two days, according to BBC News. The bridge spans the Dnipro River and is one of the main transport arteries linking the western and eastern halves of the capital. Metro and automobile traffic across it has been suspended, and restrictions are also in place on Kyiv's two other key bridges.

Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said at Friday's defence council meeting, attended by the city's top military, security, emergencies and police officials, that the situation amounted to a question of survival. He said Russia's aim was to "sow panic", and stressed the capital would "prevail - but only through the joint efforts of those who love it and care for it".

The disruption affects a city of roughly three million people, many of whom depend heavily on the metro network. Suspending traffic on the Southern bridge has caused major delays across Kyiv, with the knock-on restrictions on the capital's other crossings adding to the strain.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Vladimir Putin decided in early September that "there are no rules now" when it comes to attacking Ukraine. In an excerpt published from his interview with the Financial Times, Zelensky said Russia had failed to occupy the country and was now conducting massive attacks and mass killings. He listed bridges, data centres, the internet, mobile networks, hospitals, kindergartens, schools and universities as targets, saying the goal was to make people flee their cities.

Putin, speaking after a wide-ranging address at Thursday's Valdai foreign policy forum, insisted Russia's strikes on Ukrainian economic targets were a direct response to Ukraine's attacks on Russian oil refineries and its ships in the Black Sea. "Now from every direction we're receiving calls 'let's stop'. But they started it," he said. Putin acknowledged that Kyiv had "got some results" from its refinery attacks and that Russia had lost about 1% of its GDP.

Ukraine maintains it began targeting Russian oil infrastructure because the proceeds help the Kremlin finance the war. Russia has struck Ukrainian energy infrastructure repeatedly, stepping up such attacks each winter since launching its full-scale invasion in 2022. Ukraine's state emergencies service, DSNS, said one person was killed in the capital when a multi-storey residential building was hit overnight.