Two Russian drones struck Kyiv’s Pivdennyi bridge on Thursday, suspending metro services and disrupting public transport across the capital. The attack targeted a central stanchion’s base while a train crossed the Dnipro river, marking a new phase in Moscow’s infrastructure campaign.
Two Russian drones hit the Pivdennyi bridge in central Kyiv late on Thursday morning, striking the base of a central stanchion as a metro train traveled across the Dnipro river. According to the BBC, the impact sent blast wave dust pouring through the ventilation system into passenger carriages. Mariana Mykytenko, a reporter for Ukrainian 5 Kanal TV who was on board, recalled hearing a fellow passenger shout Shahed
moments before the explosion, referencing Russia’s Iranian-designed drones.
While no injuries were reported inside that compartment, the train terminated at Vydubychi station on the right bank of the river, and all metro services were temporarily suspended. Road traffic across the bridge was eventually allowed to resume.
Drone strikes hit Kyiv energy grid, school, and nuclear institute
Thursday’s bridge attack followed a wave of coordinated strikes across the Ukrainian capital. Earlier in the morning at about 09:00 local time, a Russian drone struck the third floor of a school. More than 100 students were present at the time, but all had successfully reached a shelter before the impact, according to the BBC. President Volodymyr Zelensky stated that Russia must be held fully accountable for the attacks.
The capital had also just endured its first coordinated assaults on its energy grid since the end of last winter, prompting renewed power cuts. Prime Minister Serhii Koretskyi noted that such a combined-scale strike had not occurred since the end of spring, despite local authorities spending months constructing smaller-scale power plants to brace for winter. Additional strikes hit Kyiv’s Institute of Nuclear Research on Wednesday night, while another drone attack earlier in the week killed one person near the National Academy of Sciences.
Jet-powered drones challenge Ukrainian air defenses
Ukrainian officials report that a new design of Russian jet-powered drones entered operational service on Wednesday. Serhiy Beskrestnov, a technology adviser to President Zelensky also known as Flash, stated that the new drone carries a 40kg warhead specifically engineered to destroy high-voltage electricity pylons and iron bridge structures. Ukrainian air force officials indicated that at least 3,177 jet-powered drones were launched during September, with their high speed creating significant challenges for Ukraine’s air defense systems.
Bridge structure undergoes preliminary safety checks
Despite the dramatic explosion near a main support section of the Pivdennyi bridge—which serves as a vital artery connecting western and eastern Kyiv across the Dnipro river—city authorities reported that preliminary checks did not find any critical damage to the structure, according to the BBC. The strikes mark the first time Kyiv’s bridges have been hit.
