kyiv (Ukraine) (AFP) – Major traffic jams paralyzed a large part of the Ukrainian capital on Friday after the closure of a major bridge linking the two banks of kyiv and hit overnight by new Russian drone attacks.

Published on: 02/10/2026 - 1:40 p.m.

These strikes hit the South Bridge overnight, which was then completely closed to traffic, announced Mayor Vitali Klitschko, adding that traffic had also been limited on two other major bridges in kyiv.

These restrictions have caused, according to AFP journalists, major traffic jams in the Ukrainian capital with some 3 million inhabitants and which depends heavily on its eight bridges spanning the Dnieper.

The Waze navigation application always reported, in the middle of the day, huge traffic jams on the roads along this river which divides the capital in two, making travel from one bank to the other almost impossible.

"There is simply no way to get there. Nothing. Impossible to cross the bridges today," Tetiana Ossypenko, a 49-year-old seamstress, told AFP in frustration, who tried for three hours to get to her job on the left bank.

The day before, the South Bridge, which also supports a metro line, was hit by Russian drones before being hit again several times during the night, according to Ukrainian authorities.

These are the first significant attacks on a major kyiv bridge since Russia's invasion began in 2022, after Ukraine had long feared such strikes.

“Increasingly difficult situation”

These bombings come as Russia has stepped up its deadly attacks across the country in recent weeks. In kyiv, which is particularly targeted, air alert sirens sound constantly.

Repeated strikes on trains and gas stations have already hit rail and road networks as well as logistics and communications sites in Kyiv and its region.

In kyiv, traffic on two other major bridges, Paton and Metro, was also limited on Friday, according to the mayor. No attacks have been reported against these structures.

AFP journalists also noted temporary restrictions on a fourth bridge, Darnytsky, in the morning.

EU Ambassador to kyiv Katarina Mathernova deplored "the road chaos" caused by the bombings.

“kyiv is trying to get through another morning. Parents still have to take their children to school. People still have to go to work,” she wrote on Facebook. “The situation is getting more and more difficult.”

According to the Ukrainian army, on the night of Thursday to Friday, Russia attacked the country with more than 100 drones, including nearly 50 jets, which are more difficult to shoot down. Ukraine claimed to have neutralized the majority.

During the attack, a residential building in kyiv was hit and one person was found dead there by firefighters while they were putting out a fire started by the impact, rescue services said.

F-16 versus jet drones

Faced with devastating strikes from Moscow, Ukraine has been carrying out retaliatory attacks for months on Russian territory, particularly on refineries, in an attempt to dry up the hydrocarbon windfall which finances the Kremlin's gigantic war effort.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Friday that new strikes by his army had hit oil and military sites in several Russian regions.

On Thursday evening, he had already declared that Ukraine had used, for the first time in combat, the FP-7, a nationally manufactured tactical ballistic missile.

Ukraine nevertheless lacks anti-aircraft means against ballistic missiles, which are very difficult to shoot down, and against new jet drones, which are much faster than conventional aircraft.

In an interview with the Financial Times newspaper, Mr. Zelensky said that American-made F-16 planes supplied to kyiv by allies were effective against jet drones, but that too many planes - about half - were spending long periods in Europe for repairs and maintenance.

Ukrainian diplomacy for its part affirmed on Friday that it was still using its fighters "intensively", denying information from the American newspaper Wall Street Journal according to which maintenance problems had grounded most of them.

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© 2026 AFP

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