The enemy is attempting to completely halt metro traffic across the Dnipro, while there is no alternative to the metro for handling passenger traffic in the capital, transport planning expert and ProMobility Director Dmytro Bespalov says.
“This is a psychological operation. Why did they choose the Pivdennyi Bridge rather than Paton Bridge or Metro Bridge? Precisely because it operates for the metro during a yellow air alert. The overall plan was to split the city, paralyze traffic, and when they saw that transport was operating during air alerts, they targeted it in order to return everything to the original plan,” he told Interfax-Ukraine on Thursday, commenting on the situation.
As Bespalov noted, destroying the bridge itself with a Shahed drone is difficult, but such strikes, regardless of the extent of damage, can achieve the goal of halting passenger traffic, since restoring metro operations will require a number of expert examinations.
“There is effectively no alternative to the metro. We have no data for the green line, but we estimated the red line. During peak hours, 10,000-15,000 passengers per hour cross the Metro Bridge. No ferry service or river trams could handle that. That is without even considering whether such a fleet exists,” the expert said.
As reported, Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko confirmed two hits by unmanned aerial vehicles near the supporting structure of the Pivdennyi Bridge in Kyiv. According to preliminary inspection results, specialists from the Kyivavtoshliakhmist municipal enterprise found no critical damage to the structure. Ground public transport traffic across the bridge has now been restored. At the same time, inspections of the metro structures on the bridge are continuing. Green Line trains are currently running between Syrets and Vydubychi stations and between Osokorky and Chervonyi Khutir stations.
Further information on the resumption of normal metro train service will be provided additionally.
