Russian forces struck Kyiv's Southern Bridge for a second consecutive day on Friday, pressing a campaign against the Ukrainian capital's Dnipro river crossings that has already set a school ablaze and paralyzed traffic across two of the city's key bridges, while Ukraine answered with drone strikes deep inside Russia, hitting industrial facilities in Volgograd and setting a major oil refinery on fire.
Second strike on the Southern Bridge
Russian air strikes again hit the Southern Bridge in Kyiv, Mayor Vitali Klitschko said on Telegram on Friday, one day after Russian drones smashed into the same bridge and into a school in the capital, triggering fires across the city. On Thursday, two drones hit the support section of the cable-stayed bridge, which carries both road traffic and Kyiv Metro trains, and footage shared on Telegram showed an explosion near one of the bridge's columns with a column of thick black smoke rising over the Dnipro.
City authorities closed traffic across the Southern Bridge and the Paton Bridge in both directions, redirecting vehicles via alternative routes and imposing partial restrictions on the Metro Bridge. Metro services and ground public transport across the Southern Bridge were temporarily stopped, and a fire broke out in the top floors of an apartment building in Kyiv. City officials said the attacks killed one person and injured two in the capital.
Political analyst Vadym Denysenko wrote on Facebook that the bridge strikes represent a serious escalation, noting that such structures had until recently been considered a "red line". Kyiv's three million residents depend on the Dnipro crossings as a lifeline between the eastern and western halves of the city.
School hit, children spared by shelter drill
On Thursday morning, a Russian drone slammed into the third floor of a Kyiv school and set it ablaze — but all the pupils were in a bomb shelter at the time and no injuries were reported, city authorities said. More than 100 students had been present during the attack, school director Valentyna Chorna said. "They (Russians) spare no one," she said. CCTV footage verified by Reuters showed a bright fireball erupting after the drone struck the building.
The school was not the week's only civilian target. Late on Wednesday, a drone struck Kyiv's Institute of Nuclear Research, though the institute said radiation levels remained normal. On Monday, a Russian drone hit the National Academy of Sciences building in downtown Kyiv, killing one person and wounding several others.
Russia denies targeting civilians, though it has repeatedly struck cities and towns across Ukraine since its full-scale invasion in 2022. Ukraine's air force says Russian drone attacks surged to 3,177 recorded strikes in September, up from 2,850 in August, as Moscow increasingly deploys fast jet-powered drones that are harder to intercept.
Ukraine retaliates deep inside Russia
Kyiv is answering the air campaign with strikes of its own. Ukrainian drones targeted industrial facilities in the Russian city of Volgograd, home to a large oil refinery, sparking a fire and leaving one person injured after a drone hit an apartment building, the regional governor said. The refinery strikes have become a strategic pillar of Ukraine's campaign: President Vladimir Putin himself acknowledged this week that they have cost Russia about one percent of its gross domestic product, with motorists forming long lines to refill their tanks as fuel supplies falter.
Russia's defence ministry claimed its drones hit a bridge over the Dnipro in Kyiv, a power station in the surrounding region, the Izmail port near Odesa and a cargo vessel, insisting all were used for military purposes. Moscow has also been waging a concerted campaign against Ukraine's power grid, with Ukrainian officials describing this week's strikes as the start of a cold-weather offensive aimed at cutting electricity and heating as winter approaches.
An escalating air war with no off-ramp
The exchange comes as the Kremlin signals no interest in pausing the violence. Asked at the Valdai Forum this week whether Russia would halt strikes in the Black Sea, Putin answered "no". Meanwhile, presidential adviser Sergiy "Flash" Beskrestnov warned that Russia has begun using a jet-powered drone designed to cut electricity pylons and steel bridge structures — a technology seemingly aimed at exactly the kind of infrastructure now being hit in Kyiv.
With bridges, schools, research institutes and refineries all under attack in a single week, the air war has entered one of its most destructive phases — and both capitals are preparing for a winter in which energy and infrastructure, not just front lines, will decide who bends first.
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