Kyiv plans to allocate 1 billion hryvnias ($22 million) to water crossings over the River Dnipro which bisects the city, Mayor Vitali Klitschko said on Tuesday, after a spate of Russian attacks on bridges.
– Russia has disrupted transport for Kyiv residents by hitting bridges this month, part of a significant step up in drone and missile strikes on logistics in and around the Ukrainian capital in recent months.
– The Pivdennyi (Southern) Bridge, one of Kyiv’s six main bridges, was hit overnight by four Iskander ballistic missiles, a Ukrainian military source told Reuters, an attack decried by President Volodymyr Zelenskiy as a “serious escalation”.
– Disruptions to bridge traffic could become a critical issue for Kyiv residents who live and work on opposite sides of the wide river and have to commute across daily.
– One of the city’s metro lines runs over Pivdennyi bridge that also carries road traffic. Russia has targeted other bridges in the city with drones.
– Klitschko said on Telegram that the city’s defence council had discussed a “project to build combined water crossings over the River Dnipro and the access roads leading to them.”
– He did not give further details.
– Water crossings come in various forms, including pontoons, fords and other low-lying structures that enable people and vehicles to cross.
– Such structures have not been used in Kyiv since Russia’s February 2022 invasion.