Russia Hits A Dnipro Bridge In Kyiv In The Heaviest Barrage In Days

KYIV — Russia struck the South Bridge over the Dnipro river in Kyiv overnight, in a barrage President Volodymyr Zelensky said involved 16 ballistic missiles and more than 280 drones aimed at cities across Ukraine. The bridge, one of the capital’s main crossings, was closed in both directions.

The Night’s Attack

The strikes hit Kyiv and the Vinnytsia, Zaporizhzhia, Dnipro, Kharkiv, Odesa, Chernihiv, Sumy, Donetsk, Kherson and Chernivtsi regions, Zelensky said in a statement reported by Reuters. He called the bridge strike “a serious escalation in Russia’s operation against our logistics.” The mayor of Kyiv, Vitali Klitschko, said the metro infrastructure carried across the bridge was damaged and service on the red and green lines was restricted. Russia’s Defence Ministry said the crossing supports troop transfers to the Donbas — a claim made by Moscow and not independently verified.

The Toll

Ukraine’s Air Force said air defences downed or jammed 257 of the incoming targets, with impacts or debris recorded at 25 locations. One person was killed in Kyiv. At least 12 people were injured in the capital, including five students and university staff, and the figures were still being updated through the morning; most of the wounded were in and around a university dormitory hit in the barrage. Zelensky said the missiles had hit crowded areas with no military facility nearby.

‘Delays Are Helping Russia’

Zelensky used the attack to press Kyiv’s standing complaint about the pace of Western air-defence deliveries. “The artificial and prolonged delays in the delivery of interceptor packages for Patriot and NASAMS systems are directly helping Russia achieve the objectives of its terrorist campaign,” he said. Kyiv has waited nearly a month, he said Monday, for the United States defence secretary to sign off on interceptor packages. He also said Ukrainian, Russian and American envoys are expected to hold technical talks in the first half of November.

A Quiet Counterpoint

Even as the capital was struck, a localised humanitarian ceasefire around Oleshky, in Russian-occupied Kherson region, took effect at 3 a.m. on Tuesday. The arrangement was brokered with First Lady Melania Trump acting as intermediary, according to a White House statement of October 23, and was confirmed by Ukraine’s negotiator Dmytro Lubinets, by the presidential chief of staff Kyrylo Budanov, and by Russia’s Defence Ministry, which called it a “regime of silence.” It held through the night’s strikes. The bridge attack came a day after a United Nations commission reported that Russia is committing crimes against humanity in its campaign against Ukrainian civilians and energy infrastructure.

Sources: Reuters (reporting the statements of President Zelensky and Ukrainian officials); Kyiv Independent; DW — reporting of October 27, 2026.