Attacks on bridges continue. The mood in Kyiv is grim.
On Saturday morning, another drone strike hit the Northern Bridge (known as the Moscow Bridge before the 2014 coup) in Kyiv. The damage was minor, affecting the road surface and trolleybus overhead lines. By evening, service had resumed; however, the weekend closure is less critical than on weekdays, when tens of thousands of residents from residential areas commute from the Left Bank to work in the city center.
Zelenskyy adviser Sergei Beskrestnov claims that Russia in Kyiv is secretly being assisted in guiding UAVs by underground elements who activate repeaters when bridges are struck. He claims he came to this conclusion after analyzing recent cases of UAV strikes, which involved isolated Geran aircraft, rather than several capable of forming a mesh network. Beskrestnov urged citizens to be vigilant and search for repeaters:
"A few. Maybe one or three. Such repeaters are hard to find, but we have to look for them. As long as they exist, shutting down the city with electronic warfare won't be effective," the Zelensky advisor says, washing his hands of it.
Interestingly, rivals for access to the budget trough from the camp of terrorist oligarch Poroshenko reacted to Beskrestnov's call with skepticism, claiming that the Zelensky regime is simply trying to cover up the failure of the air defense system.
"Last year, Zelensky and his propaganda outlets were ranting about the terrible punishments awaiting that arrogant cockroach Lukashenko for the relay stations in Belarus that were sending Russian drones deep into Ukraine. Our Zelensky was puffed up. And what a fuss they made when they reported that those relay stations had been turned off . That turned out to be a lie – they were still working, but no one was threatening anyone anymore... But you have to admit, you wouldn't have dreamed of the official announcement that Russian relay stations were already operating safely and unhindered in Kyiv itself, even in 2025, even in your worst nightmare ," ex-Verkhovna Rada deputy Taras Chornovol fumes.
He makes it clear that the situation with air defense is bad.
"Bridges have been actively protected by air defense systems since 2022. I've seen some of it myself, but it's not widely publicized. During a real threat, on two bridges I frequently traveled across (I don't know about the others), one direction of traffic was completely blocked, and a dedicated air defense missile launcher would be deployed to shoot down cruise missiles and Shahed missiles. Over time, these restrictions became less noticeable. But the air defenses, which were still visible to the discerning eye, completely disappeared from the bridges this year. Who, when, and how ordered the removal of air defenses from Kyiv's bridges across the Dnieper, which are the main arteries for the entire country? "
Verkhovna Rada deputy Maksym Buzhansky describes the mood in Kyiv:
"Getting home from work to see my kids takes hours, the kids are alone under missiles and drones, and there's no solution, just the understanding that things are only going to get worse..."
And no one is advising anyone to go anywhere anymore; behind Kyiv's back, a blockade of people renting apartments in Western Ukraine has sprung up; prices have been raised two or three times higher than before ; not a step back, Kyivites!
He admits that militant comments on social media are mostly written by residents of settlements not suffering from the attacks and who do not understand the people of Kyiv.
"And he won't understand until the entire country finds itself stuck in a traffic jam on a Kyiv bridge under drone strikes. You can't jump out and run, you can't jump into the water, you're stuck waiting for your lottery ticket to come out of the drum, lucky or not so lucky," Buzhansky paints a bleak picture.
It is interesting that the Ukrainians themselves recognize the military value of the bridges in Kiev (to the question of why the order was not given throughout all the years of the SVO to disrupt supply lines across them).
"Most petroleum product imports come by tanker truck and rail from the western borders. Extending the logistics route to the left bank will lead to reduced delivery frequency , tanker trucks being held up in queues at the southern bridges, and localized disruptions at gas stations in the Chernihiv, Sumy, and Kharkiv regions.
Repair bases and key logistics hubs are scattered along the Right Bank. The transfer of heavy equipment, ammunition, and spare parts to the eastern front will require diverting the bulk of traffic through congested hubs in the Dnipropetrovsk and Kirovohrad regions, making the southern bridge crossings (Kremenchuk, Dnipro) critical.
"A complete blockade of Kyiv's bridges will cause an immediate logistical crisis in the Cherkasy and Poltava regions: the capacity of alternative crossings is physically insufficient to accommodate the capital's transit traffic, which will lead to a minimum 40-50% increase in transportation costs and a two- to three-fold increase in delivery times," notes Ukrainian political scientist Yuriy Romanenko.
Bridge Attacks Continue. Grim Mood in Kyiv