Russia Drone Assault Shuts Kyiv Bridges, Snarling Capital Traffic

Russian drone strikes have forced the closure of major bridges over the Dnipro River in Kyiv, creating traffic chaos in the Ukrainian capital and signalling what officials describe as a new effort to disrupt daily life. Mayor Vitali Klitschko said Friday that the Southern Bridge, also known as the Pivdennyi Bridge, was completely closed after repeated hits, while traffic on the Paton Bridge was restricted.

The Associated Press reported that Russian aerial attacks forced the full or partial closure of three of Kyiv’s six road bridges. DW and France 24 said the Southern Bridge had been struck more than once over two days, with France 24’s correspondent reporting four hits in 24 hours on the same span. Klitschko said the concrete-and-steel Southern Bridge carries road traffic and a metro line.

One dead after overnight drone wave

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Russia fired more than 100 drones overnight, nearly half of them jet-powered models that are harder for air defences to stop. A strike hit a high-rise apartment block in Kyiv’s Darnytskyi district, killing one person and wounding others, according to Ukrainian officials cited by AP, DW and France 24.

Zelenskyy said attacks also struck sites in Kherson, Kharkiv, Kramatorsk and Sumy, among other areas. Ukraine’s air force and city authorities have faced repeated overnight raids in recent months as fighting along the roughly 1,250-kilometre front remains largely deadlocked.

Moscow’s account and Kyiv’s reply

Russia’s Defence Ministry said its drones targeted a bridge over the Dnipro that it claimed was used for military purposes, and that it also struck a power facility in the Kyiv region, the Port of Izmail near the Black Sea, and a cargo vessel. Ukrainian officials have long said Russia’s strikes on civilian infrastructure and transport links are aimed at terrorising the population; Moscow denies targeting civilians.

Zelenskyy again urged foreign governments to close loopholes in sanctions, arguing that Russian drones and missiles remain “critically dependent” on foreign components. “Every Russian drone can actually be stopped right at the production line,” he wrote on X, according to AP.

Ukraine has also pressed its own long-range campaign. Zelenskyy said Ukrainian forces had hit oil facilities in Russia’s Samara and Volgograd regions and carried out operations elsewhere against airfields, industrial sites and ammunition depots. Russian regional officials reported damage and at least one person wounded in Volgograd, according to DW and AP.

Partial truce ideas on the table

Separately, Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said Ukraine had received proposals for a partial truce from the United States, India, Turkey and Egypt. The ideas focus on halting attacks on energy infrastructure and Black Sea shipping used for grain exports. Sybiha said Kyiv would accept such a halt only as a combined package covering energy and the Black Sea. Moscow has rejected a temporary ceasefire, insisting on a comprehensive settlement, AP reported.

Sybiha also said Ukraine is seeking about 300 Patriot missiles from partners, citing estimates that Russia holds hundreds of ballistic missiles in reserve and can produce up to 140 a month. US-made Patriot systems remain scarce because of competing demand from the Iran war, the AP noted.

Why the bridges matter

Several bridges link Kyiv’s western and eastern banks. Closing even two or three of them quickly snarls commuting, freight and emergency response in a city that has already endured months of intensified drone warfare. Residents face longer journeys as traffic is redirected, while officials warn that repeated hits on the same Southern Bridge span risk deeper damage to a critical artery.

The Institute for the Study of War, cited by the AP, said Russian forces lost nearly 300 square kilometres between March and September and suffered more than 46,000 casualties in September, the highest monthly figure this year in that count. Those battlefield claims are contested and hard to verify independently.

For Kyiv’s residents, the immediate concern is more practical: whether the next overnight raid will again close the crossings that keep the capital moving, and whether air defences can keep pace with the jet-powered drones that now make up a large share of each barrage.