Russia strikes second major bridge in Kyiv, mayor says

A Russian strike has hit a second major bridge in Kyiv, Mayor Vitali Klitschko says.

The attack damaged the road surface and trolleybus overhead wires on the Northern Bridge, he said.

The strike comes after the Southern Bridge has been targeted multiple times by Russian drones since Thursday.

The bridges link the eastern and western parts of the capital and had not been hit before Thursday’s strikes, signalling a new stage in Moscow’s attacks.

Writing on Telegram on Saturday, Klitschko said: “Hitting the North Bridge. Emergency services are on their way.”

“Traffic on the bridge from the left to the right bank is currently blocked,” he added.

Earlier attacks on the Southern Bridge prompted Kyiv’s defence council to hold a crisis meeting on Friday, in which Klitschko warned that intensified Russian drone and missile strikes were “tearing Kyiv apart”.

He said the city was now in a “very dramatic situation” as Moscow was battering its “critical infrastructure, logistics, housing” and other key facilities.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has said Russia is acting in response to Ukraine’s strikes on Russian energy facilities, despite the fact that it was Moscow that had first launched such attacks.