President Volodymyr Zelensky has accused his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, of violating the rules of armed conflict by authorizing massive attacks on civilian areas, an accusation the Kremlin has rejected.
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This bitter conflict, which began with Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022, has largely focused on ground fighting in the east, with kyiv largely spared the devastation wrought near the front line.
But kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said the city must now be on a war footing.
“The capital is in a very dramatic situation,” he posted on Telegram. “It is no longer possible to pretend that we can live today as we lived in peacetime.”
“The enemy is tearing Kyiv apart.”
His message came as authorities closed one of kyiv’s main bridges and restricted travel a second after a new wave of deadly rapid-response drone strikes.
Traffic severely disrupted
Long lines of stationary cars and buses were stuck on main roads as commuters sought alternative routes – or even traveled on foot.
“I have been traveling for three hours… to get to work,” said Tetiana Osypenko, a 49-year-old seamstress whose bus was stuck in a traffic jam.
“There’s just no way to get there. Nothing. It’s impossible to cross the bridges today,” she said.
Traffic increased due to the complete closure of all vehicles traveling in both directions on the Southern Bridge, one of eight bridges connecting east and west kyiv over the Dnipro River.
The cable-stayed bridge has been hit several times since Thursday, with further impacts confirmed by Klitschko on Friday afternoon.
The Paton Bridge, further north, was open in one direction, although there were no reports of it being struck.
On X, Zelensky accused Putin of saying last month that there were “no rules now,” citing anonymous intelligence and people around Putin.
“The Russians could not occupy us. So now they are carrying out massive attacks and massive massacres,” Zelensky said in remarks first made in an interview with the Financial Times.
The Kremlin did not immediately respond publicly to this assertion.
Daily fear of bombings
kyiv has been increasingly subjected to aerial bombardment in recent months, putting the city on near-constant alert and disrupting daily life.
Air raid sirens warning of approaching threats in the skies blare almost 24 hours a day, urging the city’s three million residents to seek shelter.
Repeated strikes against trains and gas stations have already hit rail and road networks, while attacks on energy installations threaten electricity and heating as winter approaches.
Osypenko, the seamstress, said previous disruptions to metro service during air raids had forced her to spend the night at a metro station near the South Bridge.
The loss of income compounds the financial pressures caused by the war, she added. “You spend the whole day feeling completely defeated.”
The latest Russian attacks killed one person and injured at least two others when a 25-story residential building was hit in southeast kyiv.
Two people were killed and dozens injured when Russian shelling hit residential areas in the eastern city of Kharkiv, the city’s mayor, Igor Terekhov, said on Telegram.
“Political will”
Zelensky called for tougher sanctions to prevent Russia from manufacturing jet drones, which are harder to intercept.
Russian production of these weapons was “extremely dependent” on foreign components, he wrote on social media on Friday.
“All Russian drones can be stopped at the production line. What is needed is the political will of these countries,” he added.
Zelensky has repeatedly called on Ukraine’s Western allies for more military support, particularly for U.S.-made Patriot missile interceptors.
On Thursday, he said Ukraine had used its FP-7 tactical ballistic missile in combat for the first time, without revealing where or what it was used against.
He also said Ukraine was testing five of its own interceptors against drones.
Ukraine’s military said Friday it struck an oil refinery in Volgograd and another facility in Samara, both in southwest Russia, for allegedly supplying fuel to Russian forces.
kyiv also dismissed reports that its F-16 fighter jets – another key tool used against jet drones – could be grounded due to delays in maintenance inspections and the supply of parts.
But Zelensky told the Financial Times that about half of Ukraine’s fleet spends long periods of maintenance in Europe.
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