Russia has significantly intensified its attacks on Kyiv since July 2026, deliberately targeting the bridges over the Dnipro. According to Ukrainska Pravda, the Southern Bridge came under fire on 1 and 2 October, and the Northern Bridge on the two following days. As the news channel n-tv reported on 3 October, the Southern Bridge – the capital’s strategically most important bridge, which carries the metro across the river – was attacked several times. In a conversation with Deutsche Welle, transport planner Dmytro Bespalov said the Southern Bridge was no chance target: it is the central logistics axis for lorry traffic. According to traffic calculations, up to 15,000 people cross the Southern Bridge by metro every hour during peak times.
What a failure would mean for everyday life
If even one of the central crossings fails, experts believe a traffic collapse is imminent. According to n-tv, more than a third of Kyiv residents live on the eastern side of the river, while most jobs are west of the Dnipro. On 2 October, according to Ukrainska Pravda, only the Darnytsia Bridge was fully operational, and the rush was so great that people sat in traffic jams for hours – by car, taxi and public transport. The metro was not running either. Images of pedestrians on the bridges circulated on social media.
Transport planner Bespalov stresses that several hits from kamikaze drones are not enough to destroy a bridge: the structures have large reserves of strength and are protected against such impacts. Military expert Oleksandr Kovalenko of the Ukrainian Centre for Security Studies nevertheless sees the attacks as a new phase of terror. Weeks and months of daily attacks could create an emergency that forces the closure of one bridge or another, he told Deutsche Welle. His aim is the complete paralysis of Kyiv.
Pontoons, tunnels, nets – what is realistic
According to Ukrinform, the Minister for Reconstruction, Infrastructure and Transport, Mykola Kalashnyk, had announced that construction of reserve pontoon bridges over the Dnipro would begin the following week. n-tv reports that work on several pontoon bridges and temporary dams was to start the coming week and last up to three months; they are to carry up to half the capacity of the regular bridges. Bespalov doubts the benefit: pontoons and embankments could reach half the capacity, but dozens of them would be needed. In addition, the Dnipro’s current is fast, and dumped material is washed away – with risks for the riverbed and banks. Operating under constant drone attacks would also be dangerous.
According to Ukrainska Pravda, a metro tunnel under the river is currently not being considered by the government: too expensive, too slow. The distance between the banks is up to 1.5 kilometres, and construction could drag on for seven to ten years. As a short-term protection measure, according to n-tv, anti-drone nets are being stretched over the existing bridges. Bespalov considers additional metal structures or nets on the bridges risky because the structures are overloaded and in poor condition, and extra weight could cause them to collapse. Kovalenko says: “You cannot stretch a dome over bridges. That is pure fantasy.” Both experts see the solution in strengthened, layered air defence.
What the city is already doing
According to Ukrainska Pravda, on 3 October the Kyiv authorities deployed twelve buses on the new route 1-M, which runs along the above-ground section of the red metro line and crosses the Dnipro. If the metro bridge is closed, they travel via the Podilsko-Voskresenskyi Bridge. The organisation “Passengers of Kyiv” has sent proposals to the city administration’s transport department: more buses, for example by using drivers from tram and trolleybus depots, agreements with private providers, and checks of bus lanes by the patrol police. A single ticket currently costs 30 hryvnias; the organisation’s co-founder, Oleksandr Hrechko, demands that it be treated as a transfer ticket with 45 minutes’ validity – the organisation’s co-founder, Oleksandr Hrechko, demands that it be treated as a transfer ticket so that passengers do not pay multiple times during an air raid. In the event of bridges being closed, there should be a corridor for emergency services, the military, buses and pedestrians.
According to Ukrainska Pravda’s assessment, the situation remains tense: attacks on the bridges are likely to continue disrupting everyday life in Kyiv as long as air defence is not strengthened. According to Ukrinform, Ukrainian expert Serhii “Flesh” Beskrestnov explained that the Russian attacks on the bridges and air defence could be corrected in real time via hidden radio relays in the city area.
