KYIV – A Russian strike has hit a second major bridge in Kyiv, Mayor Vitaliy Klitschko has said, as Moscow ramps up attacks on critical infrastructure in Ukraine's capital.

The attack on Saturday morning injured two people, and damaged the road surface and overhead trolleybus wires on the Pivnichnyi (Northern) Bridge, Klitschko said, causing traffic jams. It comes after the Pivdennyi (Southern) Bridge was hit multiple times by Russian drones this week, with Klitschko warning that "the enemy is tearing Kyiv apart".
Russia said its drones had hit the two bridges used to transfer Ukrainian troops and military cargo. Moscow again urged foreign citizens, including diplomats, to leave Kyiv. The two Kyiv bridges across the Dnipro River link the western and eastern parts of the capital and had not been hit before Thursday, signalling a new stage in Moscow's strategy. Attacks on the Pivdennyi Bridge had caused major travel disruption, with metro and car travel across it suspended. Many of the city's residents - which number about three million - rely on the metro to travel across the city every day.
Writing on Telegram on Saturday morning, Klitschko said "emergency services are on their way" after the Pivnichnyi Bridge was hit. "Traffic on the bridge from the left to the right bank is currently blocked", he added. Earlier attacks on the Pivdennyi Bridge prompted Kyiv's defence council to hold a crisis meeting on Friday.
Klitschko warned afterwards that 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. After the Pivdennyi Bridge was attacked, passengers described how dust from a blast wave entered their carriage through the ventilation system. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Putin had decided that there were "no rules now" when attacking Ukraine. (BBC)