Kyiv’s mayor warns that intensified Russian drone and missile strikes are “tearing Kyiv apart.” Vitaliy Klitschko made the warning after Kyiv’s defence council held a crisis meeting.
Klitschko says the city is in a “very dramatic situation” as Moscow is battering its “critical infrastructure, logistics, housing” and other key facilities. He spoke at the defence council meeting, where top military, security, emergencies and police officials were present.
Russian drones struck the Pivdennyi (Southern) bridge over the Dnipro River twice overnight, with a second attack coming on Friday evening, marking the fourth strike in just two days. The bridge now carries no metro or automobile traffic at all, which has led to serious delays throughout the city. Extra rules have been put in place on the other two main bridges serving Kyiv.
One person was killed when a multi-storey residential building was hit overnight. Ukraine’s state emergencies service DSNS confirmed the death. The city’s current population is estimated to be about three million.
Zelensky’s Warning
In response to the attacks, President Volodymyr Zelensky cited an excerpt from his interview with the Financial Times. He stated that Russian President Vladimir Putin made the decision to attack Ukraine in early September “there are no rules now”.
The Russians have failed to take over Ukraine, Zelensky said, and instead are launching large-scale attacks and widespread killings. He described a plan to demolish bridges, data centres, the internet, mobile networks, hospitals, kindergartens, schools, and universities — every single thing. The goal, he said, is to force people to leave their cities.
“The Russians have failed to occupy us. So now they are carrying out massive attacks and mass killings.”
Putin’s Account
Putin offered a different account. He insisted Russia’s attacks on Ukrainian economic targets were a direct response to Ukraine’s strikes on Russian oil refineries and its ships in the Black Sea.
After his Thursday’s wide-ranging speech at the Valdai foreign policy forum, Putin said: “Now from every direction we’re receiving calls ‘let’s stop’. But they started it,”.
The Numbers Behind the Strikes
Putin admitted Kyiv had “got some results” from its refinery attacks. He said Russia had lost about 1% of its GDP.
Kyiv insists its strikes on Russian oil infrastructure are aimed at cutting off funds that support the fighting.
Since Putin began his full-scale invasion in 2022, Russia has steadily increased its attacks on Ukrainian energy infrastructure every winter.
The City’s Response
Repeated meetings of the defence council have taken place to coordinate the city’s response. Across the Dnipro bridges, traffic suspensions are still in effect.
The city sits under constant assault, and the very fabric that keeps it whole is failing, according to Klitschko’s warning is blunt. The mayor is telling Kyiv’.
The conflict shows no sign of easing.
Where the paper stands
The paper backs none of the sides named here, and takes no position on the attacks themselves, but notes that its general position of keeping the channels open for diplomacy applies even when the fighting seems most fierce. It is a hard position to hold, watching a city torn apart, but the principle remains the same: keep the channels open for trade, diplomacy and compromise, and avoid concentrations of power, in government or in business.
What matters most is that the channels remain open. That means avoiding the trap of closing down entirely, even when the fighting seems most fierce. It also means keeping an eye on who holds power and how, whether in government or in business, wherever the fighting may lead.
The reader should watch for any sign that the channels close, and for any concentration of power that might follow. The paper will continue to report on both.
Source material: “Intensified Russian strikes are tearing Kyiv apart, warns mayor,” the BBC.
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