The South Bridge in Kyiv remains closed; subway service on the open section has been suspended

As of 5:00 p.m. on October 2, the South Bridge in Kyiv remains completely closed following strikes by Russian drones over the past 24 hours. Trains on the “green” metro line are not running on the open section; service will resume after experts assess the condition of the bridge.

 

This was announced by Petro Panteleev, acting first deputy head of the Kyiv City State Administration, during a briefing following a meeting of the Kyiv Defense Council, according to a Suspilne correspondent.

“We are awaiting the findings of the relevant agencies to make a decision regarding the metro’s operation. The metro is technically ready to operate,” the official said.

He noted that the South Bridge had already been closed for repairs. Now, he said, the closure is a safety measure.

“Obviously, we are dealing with a situation where the South Bridge itself is under fire, so we cannot say at this time how long it will remain closed. This depends, of course, on the experts’ conclusions. But our task now is to ensure that people can travel as much as possible via other routes and other bridges and overpasses.

Currently, he said, the Metro Bridge is allowing traffic in only one lane from the left bank to the right bank; the Paton Bridge—during alerts—is open with restrictions from the right bank to the left bank; the Northern and Podil-Voskresensky Bridges are also operating with restrictions, while the Darnytskyi Bridge operates without any restrictions.

“The routes have been worked out. We’re using the same routes that were in place back when the metro’s Green Line wasn’t actually operating, when we didn’t have a distinction between the yellow and red levels. And we will monitor passenger traffic to determine whether it is necessary to add buses to the routes that are currently in operation,” said Petro Panteleev, according to Suspilne.

As a reminder, metro service across the South Bridge in Kyiv may resume during yellow alerts.

Russia may have used a new 40-kilogram warhead during the strike on the South Bridge in Kyiv. According to the ISW, Russian forces may be using cumulative charges on long-range drones to strike large, fortified targets.

Over the past 24 hours, Russian occupation forces carried out 741 strikes on 51 settlements in the Zaporizhzhia region.