Russia strikes another major bridge in Kyiv as attacks on Ukrainian capital escalate
By Svitlana Vlasova, Kara Fox, CNN
(CNN) — A Russian strike hit Kyiv’s Northern Bridge on Saturday, marking the latest in a series of attacks on the city’s infrastructure as Moscow escalates its campaign on the Ukrainian capital.
Two people were injured in Saturday’s attack, Kyiv’s mayor Vitaliy Klitschko said, adding that the strike damaged the road and the power supply system that delivers electricity to a trolleybus, as well as suspended some traffic across the river.
It comes just a day after Kyiv’s Southern Bridge, which serves ground transportation and the city’s subway system, was hit five times in less than 24 hours.
The attacks have caused major travel disruption since Thursday. The Southern Bridge remains closed, with traffic on the Northern Bridge restricted.
Ukrainian officials said the strikes are effectively cutting the capital into two.
Kyiv is split in half by the Dnipro River, with the right bank home to the majority of the city’s business centers, offices and government institutions. The left bank is mostly residential and where at least 30% of the capital’s residents live.
Russia’s Ministry of Defense said it carried out the strike on Saturday, claiming the bridge is used to move Ukrainian troops and military supplies. It also said that it targeted a logistics center in the Kyiv region.
Kyiv region military administration head Tymur Tkachenko said on Saturday that a warehouse and production premise had been hit, injuring four people.
Kyiv’s defense council held an emergency meeting on Friday.
Russia accelerated its campaign in Kyiv in late August, taking advantage of the country’s lack of interceptors and limited other methods for defending against jet-powered drones. “The capital is in a very dire situation. And it is no longer possible to pretend that we can live as we did in peacetime,” Klitschko said Saturday.
“The enemy is laying waste to Kyiv. Infrastructure, critical infrastructure, logistics, housing, social facilities. The aggressor has also resumed its destruction of the energy sector. We are doing everything in our power to keep the city functioning under constant destructive attacks, when it is no longer a question of our usual comforts, but of safety and survival.”
Klitschko called on society to “unite, as we did in February 2022.”
Ukraine’s Air Force said in a statement that Russian launched 157 attack drones and decoy drones overnight and in the early hours of Saturday. Air defenses shot down or neutralized 131 of those drones.
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