ع
Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko declared that the Ukrainian capital had entered a very dramatic situation after a defence council meeting that gathered military, security, emergency and police officials. The mayor stated that residents could no longer pretend to live as in peacetime while Russian forces battered critical infrastructure, logistics, housing and social facilities. Klitschko called for all city services to coordinate their response, make measured decisions and deliver honest information to the population. He added that the city was ensuring vital functions under constant devastating attacks.
Strikes hit the Pivdennyi Southern Bridge for the fourth time in two days according to Klitschko, prompting authorities to suspend all metro and automobile traffic across the structure. Restrictions were placed on two additional key bridges spanning the Dnipro River that divides the city. The disruptions created major traffic chaos across Kyiv, whose population stands at approximately three million and depends heavily on the metro network for daily movement.
One person died and two others were injured when a 25-storey residential building was struck overnight, the State Emergency Service reported, with fires breaking out on the upper floors. Russian attacks also damaged data centres in recent days, producing widespread internet outages, while renewed strikes on energy infrastructure left some neighbourhoods without power or water. Klitschko said the enemy was tearing the city apart and that Kyiv was now talking about survival.
The Kyiv Post reported that Russian attacks have damaged around 4,000 of the city’s 12,000 buildings to varying degrees, or roughly one in three structures. Klitschko told the publication that each such strike costs the city budget approximately 500 million hryvnias, equivalent to $11.5 million. The newspaper noted that the mayor continues to expand shelters and prepare energy systems for winter while seeking additional funding.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russia aims to force residents to leave the capital, employing tactics reminiscent of the initial phase of the full-scale invasion in 2022. A Reuters dispatch indicated that recent barrages involved hypersonic and ballistic missiles along with more than 100 drones, many of them jet-powered. Putin stated that Moscow was responding to Ukrainian strikes on Russian energy sites even though the Kremlin had initiated such targeting, according to the BBC.
Ukraine’s air force reported that Russian forces launched 108 strike drones in the latest overnight assault, with Ukrainian units intercepting or suppressing 88 of them. Klitschko stressed that the capital would prevail only through the joint efforts of those who love and care for it. The mayor has repeatedly highlighted the mounting pressure on city services from the sustained campaign.
