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2026-10-04 Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia
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Logistics and the Soviet Legacy: Why Russia is Attacking Kyiv's Bridges
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Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited
Written by Russian miliary journalist Boris Rozhin for TASS
[ColonelCassad] My article for TASS on the attacks on bridges in Kyiv.
The Russian Armed Forces began systematic, high-precision strikes on key bridges across the Dnieper in Kyiv. Thus, the long-running debate about why these strategic arteries remained untouched has officially been closed.
But what exactly is the purpose of this operation, and what consequences will it have?
DAMAGE:
According to published enemy data and objective monitoring footage, three transport arteries of the Ukrainian capital were hit:
the Southern Bridge, the Paton Bridge, and the Metro Bridge. The strikes were carried out by jet-powered unmanned aerial vehicles, which targeted bridge supports, road surfaces, and cable-stayed cable systems. As a result of the firepower, the Kyiv regime suspended operations of key crossings overnight or transferred them to a limited mode.
This immediately impacted logistics in Kyiv—a huge accumulation of vehicles was observed in the morning near the closed bridges. The Russian Ministry of Defense confirmed in its official statement that the strikes targeted only facilities used for military logistics of the Ukrainian Armed Forces (UAF). The Southern Bridge sustained the most significant damage. If specialized drones destroy its cable tensioning system, there is a risk of collapse of the structure's largest span. Restoring such a facility during combat operations would be an insurmountable task for Ukraine, especially given the critical air defense situation in Kyiv. According to the enemy's own estimates, disrupting the Southern Bridge would cause damage of at least 8 billion hryvnias (approximately $180 million) just from the restructuring of logistics chains, not including the cost of potential repairs.
OBJECTIVES:
It is important to remember that key bridges across the Dnieper are used to transfer enemy troops and reserves from the right bank to the left bank, as well as to ensure the uninterrupted supply of fuel and Western military supplies to the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
The bridges across the Dnieper River in Kyiv, Zaporizhia, and Dnipropetrovsk are in many ways crucial—if not decisive—for supporting the high-intensity operations of Kyiv-based formations in left-bank Ukraine. This is why the scenario of the destruction of all key bridges on the Dnieper has been considered catastrophic for the Ukrainian Armed Forces since 2022. The debate over "why aren't they attacking the bridges" is now being addressed, as the strikes are being carried out using the latest jet-powered drones, which weren't available in 2022 or even 2025.
Clearly, the political command has launched a process of systematically targeting key targets in Kyiv. In fact, it has been demonstrated in practice that the concentrated use of jet-powered drones can paralyze military logistics in the enemy's capital.
It's important to understand, however, that hampering logistics and completely physically destroying crossings are not the same thing. These bridges were built during the Soviet era, taking into account standards for preparing infrastructure for a potential full-scale war with NATO, including a nuclear one. Therefore, Soviet-era infrastructure has a high degree of resilience, as has been repeatedly demonstrated by combat experience in Ukraine.
A prime example is the bridge in Zatoka, which was repeatedly attacked by a wide variety of weapons, including guided aerial bombs (GABs), cruise and ballistic missiles, various drone modifications, and even unmanned boats (UABs). Despite damage and temporary shutdowns, the bridge was able to resume limited operations after repairs.
The Antonov Bridge across the Dnieper in Kherson performed similarly. In 2022, the enemy struck it with numerous HIMARS MLRS strikes. The bridge sustained significant damage, but survived (it was later destroyed). Therefore, destroying such capital structures is truly difficult. Some often confuse the challenge of disabling such Soviet giants with the destruction of small bridges, which have been destroyed in large quantities in the special military operation zone since 2022.
The current campaign, however, demonstrates a fundamentally different approach—the methodical destruction of vulnerable bridge components.
SIGNIFICANCE:
Considering Kyiv's Dnieper crossings, the Southern Bridge is considered the most vulnerable. As already noted, its functioning critically depends on the integrity of the cable-stayed structure. If even a portion of the cables breaks, the stability of the main bridge span will be compromised. Therefore, our jet drones attack the cable-stayed cables rather than the massive supports, which are much more difficult to destroy.
From a logistical standpoint, this bridge is the most valuable. It is connected to the key E40 transport corridor, originating in Western Europe. Failure of this bridge would immediately impact the regularity of deliveries, increase logistics lead times, and disrupt many of the Ukrainian Armed Forces' military planning plans. Thus, the disabling, and especially the collapse, of the Southern Bridge will have complex consequences not only for Kyiv but for Ukraine as a whole. It is one of Ukraine's key logistical hubs.
The Kyiv authorities are well aware that with sustained and systematic work in this direction, the Russian Armed Forces will be able to at least limit the logistical use of these arteries. Therefore, they are already considering mitigation measures (although they should have done so before 2022, before provoking further attacks).
On the one hand, the Ukrainian Armed Forces are trying to strengthen the bridges' air defenses and are doing everything possible to accelerate the development of interceptor drones to counter Russian jet-powered drones. On the other hand, they are already discussing the creation of backup pontoon bridges across the Dnieper River in Kyiv. While they will have a much smaller capacity, they will be able to handle military cargo. This is a feasible task for the engineering units of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. However, this work can also be effectively hindered by strikes on the pontoon bridges and the crossing itself, should they be targeted.
Ultimately, much will depend on the intensity of the impact on the structures in Kyiv and the duration of this campaign. Even disabling one of these bridges would cause significant damage. And if we manage to paralyze conventional logistics via the Dnieper and force the enemy to switch to alternative supply lines, the consequences will become operational and strategic. Now it's up to our specialists in long-range unmanned systems to decide.
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Posted by badanov 2026-10-04 00:00||
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