Bridge across Dnipro river in Kyiv hit during Russian attack

Investing.com -- Kyiv’s Northern Bridge across the Dnipro River was hit during a Russian air attack on Saturday, damaging the crossing and disrupting transport between the Ukrainian capital’s eastern and western banks, Reuters reported.

Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said emergency services were deployed following the strike. Traffic from the eastern to the western bank was suspended after the road surface and overhead trolleybus cables were damaged.

No casualties were reported.

The attack comes after the Southern Bridge was struck several times by Russian drones over the past two days. Those strikes temporarily halted traffic across the Southern Bridge and two other crossings over the Dnipro.

The disruption could complicate movement across Kyiv, where more than a third of the city’s roughly 3 million residents lived on the eastern, or left, bank before Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022.

Most government institutions and companies are located on the western, or right, bank, with a large share of residents crossing the river for work.

The latest strike comes amid an escalation in Russian attacks on infrastructure in and around Kyiv ahead of winter.

Russia last week launched what Ukrainian officials viewed as the opening phase of another cold-weather campaign against the country’s power infrastructure. The attacks have raised concerns among Kyiv residents after strikes last winter caused widespread disruption to electricity and heating systems.

Recent attacks have also hit other infrastructure in the capital, including the Southern Bridge, as Russian forces have increased the use of drones against Kyiv.

Moscow has previously denied systematically targeting civilians in its bombing campaigns. Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.