The latest Kyiv bridge attack came on Sunday morning, 4 October 2026, when a Russian drone slammed into the Pivnichnyi (Northern) Bridge — the second strike on the crossing in as many days. The impact damaged the roadway, injured two people and severed a heating main, Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said, as air-raid sirens sounded across the capital during a surprise visit by German Chancellor Friedrich Merz. The drone attacks on Kyiv’s bridges have now run for four consecutive days, part of a sharp Russian escalation against the Ukrainian capital’s infrastructure.
Key facts
- The strike: the Pivnichnyi (Northern) Bridge was hit on Sunday morning, the second consecutive day it has been struck. Footage verified by the BBC shows cars moving on the bridge as a drone crashes into the roadway and explodes in a fireball, sending up a cloud of black smoke.
- Casualties and damage: two people were injured, Klitschko said on Telegram. The strike also damaged a heating main, temporarily cutting hot water to the north-eastern Desnyanskyi district.
- The pattern: the Pivdennyi (Southern) Bridge was hit five times in less than 24 hours on Thursday and Friday. Earlier this week three of Kyiv’s six road bridges over the Dnipro were shut, disrupting the capital’s links between its western and eastern banks.
- The visit: Merz arrived unannounced on Sunday morning, accompanied by Economy and Energy Minister Katherina Reiche and executives from Siemens Energy, Hensoldt, Diehl Defence and Quantum Systems.
- The package: Germany is expected to release €1 billion in military aid and €350 million for repairs in the energy sector, and to finalise a joint German-Ukrainian deal on the production of drones and missiles.
- Beyond Kyiv: a warehouse in the Sumy region was hit, killing one person, and a communications facility in Dnipro was struck, injuring six, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Sunday morning.
Escalating Kyiv bridge attacks
Russia has been striking Kyiv’s bridges since last week in an effort to disrupt links between the capital’s two banks and the logistics routes running between central and eastern Ukraine. The Northern Bridge — a cable-stayed crossing a short drive from the central railway station — was hit shortly after Merz’s arrival, and Sunday’s footage showed vehicles on the roadway at the moment of impact.
Klitschko reported the strike on Telegram, writing: “Hitting the roadway on the North Bridge. Emergency services are on their way to the scene.” Repair crews were sent to the scene immediately, and officials say work is under way to restore the crossing. Russia’s defence ministry has said it will intensify strikes on Kyiv and other parts of Ukraine.
The repeated attacks have disrupted travel across a city of about three million people. Commuters face gridlock on weekdays, and officials have warned that bridge closures will continue to strain the metro and road networks that cross the wide Dnipro River.
Merz’s surprise visit: aid and drone deal
Merz travelled to Kyiv with the message, as he wrote on X: “You can rely on us. Germany’s security also depends on the outcome of this war. That is why we are helping out of our own self-interest as well.” He described the coming period as decisive for Ukraine and urged Vladimir Putin to end what he called a senseless war.
The two leaders laid wreaths at a memorial to fallen Ukrainian soldiers at Independence Square and visited the damaged building of the National Academy of Sciences, where at least two people died in a drone strike last week. A deal for the joint production of various kinds of drones — with a focus on interceptor drones able to counter high-speed jet-powered Russian attack drones — is due to be finalised during the visit. Merz’s arrival came a day after Russia warned that foreign visitors and dignitaries in the Ukrainian capital were not safe.
Attacks beyond Kyiv
The drone campaign has not been confined to the capital. Zelenskyy said Russian drones also attacked a warehouse in the Sumy region, killing one person, and struck a communications facility in Dnipro, injuring six people. Ukraine’s air force has reported large-scale overnight drone assaults, including high-speed jet-powered Shahed-type drones that can bypass Ukraine’s traditional air defences.
Kyiv, largely spared direct aerial strikes in the first years of the war, has come under increasingly heavy attack since April, with schools, petrol stations, government buildings and rail and communications infrastructure all hit in recent days.
Conclusion
Sunday’s strike on the Northern Bridge underscored the moment at which Merz’s visit took place: a capital under sustained attack on the very infrastructure that holds it together. The visit tied Germany’s long-term military and industrial commitment — the €1 billion aid release, the energy-repair funds and the joint drone-production deal — directly to Kyiv’s most urgent vulnerability: its air defences.
With Russia signalling more strikes to come and Ukraine warning that the weeks ahead will be decisive, the damage to Kyiv’s bridges is likely to keep testing both the city’s resilience and the West’s capacity to keep its air defences supplied.
