A drone hits Kyiv's northern bridge again as Merz arrives by train

Russian drones hit Kyiv's Pivnichnyi Bridge on Sunday morning for the second day running, as German Chancellor Friedrich Merz arrived in the capital by train. Mayor Vitali Klitschko said two people were injured. The BBC verified video of a drone striking the roadway, a fireball, and black smoke. Photographs from the scene show a hole in the middle of a traffic lane. The bridge is still standing. Traffic is not.

This is the fourth consecutive day of strikes on the capital's main river crossings. The Pivdennyi Bridge, the southern crossing, was hit several times earlier in the week, including a drone that struck cables on Friday. The two bridges carry traffic between the right bank and the left bank across the Dnipro. Kyiv has eight bridges in all, used by about 500,000 vehicles a day. With both main crossings damaged, residents described a city split in two. A man named Roman told the BBC that getting from the left bank to the right and back was "just hell."

What else was hit on Sunday

A separate drone strike damaged a heating main in the north-eastern Desnyanskyi district. Klitschko said the north-east of the city would be without hot water for a time while that main is repaired. President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russian drones also hit a warehouse in Sumy region, killing one person, and a communications facility in Dnipro, injuring six. Ukraine's air force said Russia launched 135 drones overnight, 52 of them jet-powered, and that 125 were shot down. The ones that were not are the ones on the bridges and the heating main.

Russia's defence ministry said on Sunday it would intensify strikes on Kyiv and on other regions, naming military facilities, defence industry sites and related infrastructure. The ministry tied that line to an interview Zelensky gave Reuters, published on Saturday, in which he said Ukraine would increase attacks on Russian oil refineries in answer to what he called a new Russian policy of airstrikes meant to push people out of Kyiv and other cities. He said Ukraine would not target civilians. Moscow said its recent strikes were a response to Ukrainian attacks on civilian targets inside Russia. Each side denies targeting civilians.

Merz's day in the city

Merz met Zelensky, and the two laid wreaths at a memorial to fallen Ukrainian soldiers. On X, the chancellor wrote: "Ukraine is facing decisive weeks. That is why I travelled to Kyiv today with the message: You can rely on us. Germany's security also depends on the outcome of this war. That is why we are helping out of our own self-interest as well." He added that Ukraine "needs all our support in the coming weeks" and that if Russia is not stopped, "its war machine will sooner or later turn against us." Zelensky said there would be "important agreements" between Ukraine and Germany. He did not list them on Sunday.

Germany has been the largest single donor to Ukraine since Merz became chancellor in May 2025. The visit lands in a week when the Russian foreign ministry, on Saturday, told foreign citizens including diplomats to leave Kyiv. EU ambassador Katarina Mathernova answered on X that the EU delegation is staying. German ambassador Boris Ruge replied "Amen, we're staying." The diplomatic presence and the bridge damage are now in the same city on the same morning.

What the crossings mean for the winter

Klitschko has called the wider picture a "very dramatic situation," with Moscow hitting critical infrastructure, logistics and housing. Repair crews are on the two bridges. The city has talked about temporary pontoon bridges, ferry services, and a tunnel under the river. None of those is a substitute this week for a lane that has a hole in it. About 3 million people live in Kyiv. A heating main already out in Desnyanskyi, and a road network that cannot cross the river at the usual rate, is the winter problem in concrete form.

Moscow controls about 20 percent of Ukrainian territory, a figure that has moved little in recent months. The Sunday strikes are not a new front. They are a method aimed at the capital's crossings and pipes, announced in advance by the defence ministry and carried out while the German chancellor was in the city. The open item is whether the "important agreements" Zelensky mentioned include air defence for the bridges, or only the financing line Merz restated. The holes in the roadway are already there.