Intensified Russian drone and missile strikes are "tearing Kyiv apart", the mayor of Ukraine’s capital said, describing the city as in a "very dramatic situation".
Mayor Vitaliy Klitschko warned that Moscow was battering critical infrastructure, logistics, housing and other key facilities after a new strike hit the city’s key Pivdennyi bridge, a vital artery across the Dnipro River.
The city’s data centres have also been targeted recently, leading to widespread internet outages. One civilian was killed when a multi‑storey residential building was struck overnight, the state emergencies service DSNS confirmed.
"We're talking about survival," Klitschko told the defence council meeting that included Kyiv’s top military, security, emergencies and police officials. He added that Russia’s aim was to "sow panic" but the capital will prevail only through the joint efforts of those who love and care for it.
The Pivdennyi bridge was hit again on Friday evening – the fourth time in two days – forcing the suspension of all metro and automobile traffic and causing major delays across the city. Restrictions also apply to the two other key bridges.
President Vladimir Putin claimed Russia was responding to Ukrainian strikes on Russian energy facilities, though Kyiv maintains it began attacking Russian oil infrastructure to cripple the Kremlin’s war funding.
Putin said Russia had lost about 1% of its GDP after Ukrainian refinery attacks, while Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky warned that Russia now attacked everything from bridges to data centres, hospitals, kindergartens and universities to push people out of cities.
Russia has intensified attacks on Ukrainian energy infrastructure every winter since the full‑scale invasion in 2022, as Kyiv’s leadership urges residents to stay united and resilient in the face of escalating hostilities.
