Russian drones hit Kyiv’s Southern Bridge; traffic across Dnipro disrupted

Russian drones hit one of Kyiv’s main bridges over the Dnipro on Thursday, 1 October, bringing public transport to a halt and signalling a new focus on infrastructure that links the capital’s two banks, the BBC and Reuters reported.

Bridge and school strikes

Two drones struck the Pivdennyi (Southern) Bridge as a metro train was crossing; passengers described dust from a blast entering carriages. City authorities said preliminary checks “did not find any critical damage to the structure,” the BBC reported. Earlier the same morning a Russian drone slammed into the third floor of a school around 09:00 local time; more than 100 students reached a shelter and none were hurt, head teacher Valentyna Chorna said. On Friday, 2 October, Reuters reported that airstrikes killed one person in Kyiv and forced temporary closure of the Southern and Paton bridges, with long jams before traffic was restored around midday. Russia’s defence ministry said on Telegram that drones had hit a Kyiv bridge, a regional power station, the port of Izmail and a cargo vessel, claiming all targets were military; Ukraine rejects such claims when civilian sites are hit.

Winter campaign fears

Commentators linked the bridge attacks to shortages of air defences and to faster jet-powered drones Russia has used in large numbers. Zelenskiy’s technology adviser Serhiy Beskrestnov said a new jet-powered drone design with a roughly 40 kg warhead is suited to pylons and iron bridge structures. Left-bank residents — where more than a third of Kyiv’s population lived before 2022 but far fewer jobs are located — rely on bridges for daily commutes of hundreds of thousands of people, Reuters noted.