Russian attack on bridge in Kyiv: “The drone flew right over me”

There is a hole several meters wide in the middle of the street. Dozens of workers are clearing away rubble, soldiers at anti-aircraft positions are watching the sky.

Here, around 10:30 a.m. on Sunday, a Russian drone hit the northern bridge that connects the right and left banks of the Dnipro River in Kyiv. “The drone flew right over me and crashed into the bridge,” said Hanna Dolia, a 35-year-old barista at a nearby cafe. "There was a cloud of smoke rising up. It was really scary because there were a lot of cars on the bridge right now. And I use it every day." Now she's walking home. She is afraid of using public transport.

It was the second attack on the bridge in two days. The first one on Saturday morning damaged the road and the trolleybus overhead line and injured two people. The one on Sunday damaged a hot water pipe and a neighborhood is now without hot water. Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said two people were injured.

Russia is now targeting the bridges of Kyiv. The southern bridge is already closed to car traffic after several drone attacks.

The attack on the northern bridge took place during the visit of a German delegation led by Chancellor Friedrich Merz. “Normally the city is quiet when foreign delegations are there,” says Hanna Dolia. “When I read this morning that Merz had arrived, I was relieved, I was hoping for a quiet day.” But Russia had other plans. Hanna Dolia had to close her café early; hardly anyone came because of the attack.

Analyst Mykola Bielieskov from the National Institute for Strategic Studies (Niss) in Kyiv tells taz that Russia's goal is to hinder the functioning of everyday life in Kyiv. "The bridges are essential to keep the city running. Kyiv worries about 10 percent of Ukraine's GDP. If people are afraid to continue living and working in the city, this could have negative consequences and undermine Ukraine's resilience."

He further analyzes: "There are not many bridges over the Dnipro and some are not in good condition. This makes not only the city vulnerable, but the entire country. Russia would like to cut off the left and right banks of the Dnipro from each other."

Traffic over the bridge was reopened around midday on Sunday. “We are restoring the internet and power connection,” says a city worker as he works on power cables. “Luckily they didn’t hit the bridge’s supporting cables, otherwise the damage would have been much greater.”

The northern and southern bridges over the Dnipro are both supported by steel cables. There are a total of six river bridges in Kyiv, some with railway lines. Attacking them significantly disrupts traffic in the city of three million people. “I live on the right bank and work on the left,” says Hanna Dolia. "My commute to work is now a lottery: 15 minutes on the bus - or hours in traffic. So we prefer to walk now."