KYIV, Ukraine – October 4, 2026 (STL.News) Russia launched 135 drones and other unmanned aerial weapons at Ukraine overnight and struck Kyiv’s Northern Bridge on Sunday, extending a series of attacks on critical transportation infrastructure as Moscow said it would intensify strikes against Ukraine.
The latest barrage coincided with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s visit to Kyiv, where he announced more than €1.3 billion in additional military and energy support for Ukraine.
Ukraine’s Air Force said Russia launched 135 drones beginning Saturday evening. The attack included Shahed-type drones, Gerbera drones, Parodiya-type decoys and Banderol/Dan-T systems.
The Air Force said 52 Shahed-type drones involved in the attack were jet-powered.
Ukraine said its air defenses shot down or suppressed 123 drones and two Banderol systems. Impacts were recorded at five locations, while debris from intercepted weapons fell at five additional locations.
The figures are Ukrainian military assessments and cannot be fully verified independently during the ongoing conflict.
Russia strikes Northern Bridge again
One of Sunday’s Russian attacks struck Kyiv’s Northern Bridge, also known as the Pivnichnyi Bridge, a major crossing over the Dnipro River connecting the eastern and western parts of the Ukrainian capital.
Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said the strike damaged the bridge’s roadway and injured two people. Reuters reported that a hot-water supply system in the area was also damaged.
Russia’s Defense Ministry acknowledged striking the Northern Bridge and said it considered the crossing a route used for Ukrainian troop movements and military cargo.
That description of the bridge’s military use is a Russian government claim and has not been independently verified.
The Northern Bridge is also a major civilian transportation route in Kyiv.
The attack followed earlier strikes on the capital’s bridges.
Russian attacks damaged the Northern Bridge on Saturday, affecting its road surface and trolleybus cables and forcing authorities to suspend traffic.
Those attacks followed strikes that damaged Kyiv’s Southern Bridge during the preceding two days.
The Associated Press reported Saturday that two days of Russian attacks had forced the full or partial closure of three of Kyiv’s six road bridges across the Dnipro.
The resulting restrictions produced traffic congestion and disruption in the capital.
Reuters reported Sunday that Russia has been attacking Kyiv’s bridges since last week in an effort to disrupt connections between the two sides of the city and logistics routes between central and eastern Ukraine.
Dnipro crossings are critical to Kyiv
The attacks matter because the Dnipro River divides Kyiv.
Bridges across the river are vital transportation links between the capital’s eastern and western districts.
Even when a strike does not destroy a bridge, damage to its roadway, electrical systems, or supporting infrastructure can force traffic restrictions while authorities inspect and repair the crossing.
Russia’s Defense Ministry has publicly characterized the Northern Bridge as part of Ukraine’s military logistics network.
Ukraine, however, has emphasized the civilian consequences of attacks on transportation and other infrastructure.
The bridge strikes are part of a broader Russian campaign that has increasingly targeted telecommunications, electricity and transportation infrastructure in addition to military targets, Reuters reported.
Russia launches 135 drones overnight
The bridge strike came during another substantial Russian aerial attack.
Ukraine’s Air Force said Russia launched the 135 drones and other unmanned weapons from several locations beginning at approximately 6 p.m. Saturday.
Ukrainian authorities reported attacks affecting Kyiv and the Dnipropetrovsk, Kharkiv, Donetsk, Sumy and Zaporizhzhia regions.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Russia had launched more than 1,900 attack drones, 1,700 guided aerial bombs and 25 missiles against Ukraine during the previous week.
He said more than 800 of the drones were jet-powered.
Those totals come from the Ukrainian government.
Zelenskyy also said Sunday’s attacks included a strike on a medical-supply warehouse in Sumy that killed one person and a strike on a telecommunications facility in Dnipro that injured six people.
Those casualty figures were provided by the Ukrainian president in his public account of the attacks.
Jet-powered drones present new challenge
Russia’s increasing use of jet-powered attack drones has become an important development in the aerial war.
The faster systems are more difficult for Ukrainian forces to intercept than earlier propeller-driven Shahed-type drones.
Reuters reported that Russia has been using dozens of high-speed jet-powered attack drones daily since the summer, targeting both civilian and military infrastructure.
Ukraine has struggled to consistently intercept the faster systems.
The changing threat is also influencing the type of military assistance Ukraine is seeking from its European partners.
Germany’s latest assistance package includes funding to produce interceptors specifically intended to combat jet-powered Shahed-type drones, according to Zelenskyy.
Merz visits Kyiv during attacks
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz was in Kyiv Sunday as Russian drones continued attacking the Ukrainian capital.
Air-raid sirens and explosions were heard repeatedly during his visit.
Merz and Zelenskyy visited a memorial to Ukrainian soldiers killed during the war and the National Academy of Sciences building, where at least two people were killed in a Russian drone strike the previous week.
Merz announced an additional €1 billion in German military assistance to Ukraine.
The package includes long-range strike capabilities, combat drones and satellite technology, according to Reuters.
Germany also announced approximately €350 million for Ukraine’s energy sector, including repairs and preparations ahead of winter.
Together, the military and energy assistance amount to more than €1.3 billion.
Ukraine’s presidential office confirmed the package independently on Sunday.
Merz said Germany would continue supporting Ukraine and would not be intimidated by Russian attacks.
Germany expands defense cooperation
The Merz visit also produced a series of agreements between Ukraine and Germany.
Zelenskyy said Ukraine and the German side had signed 15 agreements and documents involving security cooperation, production, procurement, Ukrainian orders for German industry and joint projects in Ukraine.
The Ukrainian president put the combined value of those agreements at more than €8.5 billion.
Separately, Reuters reported that German officials said executives traveling with Merz signed 14 agreements with the Ukrainian government and businesses worth approximately €6.6 billion.
Those figures describe the agreements differently and should be treated separately rather than as interchangeable totals.
Reuters reported that the agreements included a deal with German defense manufacturer Diehl Defense for IRIS-T air-defense missiles, an agreement with Hensoldt for radar equipment, and a deal with Quantum Systems for interceptors designed to counter jet-powered drones.
Zelenskyy said Ukraine and Germany were also close to completing a broader defense agreement that he has previously said would include cooperation on drones, missiles and related software.
Moscow says attacks will intensify
The latest strikes come amid signs that the long-range conflict between Russia and Ukraine could intensify further.
Russia said Sunday that it would increase strikes against Ukraine after Zelenskyy told Reuters that Kyiv intended to step up attacks on Russian oil refineries.
Ukraine has increasingly used long-range drones to strike Russian refineries and other energy infrastructure.
Russia’s Defense Ministry also made several claims Sunday about attacks elsewhere in Ukraine.
The ministry said Russian forces struck two dry-cargo vessels carrying military equipment toward the port of Odesa in the northwestern Black Sea.
It separately claimed to have struck another cargo vessel east of Odesa, a Nova Poshta logistics center in Chornomorsk and a data center in Odesa.
Reuters said it could not independently verify those Russian claims.
Russia also claimed its air defenses intercepted and destroyed 559 Ukrainian drones over Russian territory and the Azov and Black Seas between Saturday evening and Sunday morning.
Reuters could not independently verify that figure either.
Ukraine promises response
Zelenskyy said Ukraine would respond to Russia’s intensified infrastructure attacks.
The Ukrainian president characterized the strikes on bridges and other infrastructure as an escalation intended to put additional pressure on Ukrainian cities.
Russia says its strikes are directed against military targets and infrastructure supporting Ukraine’s armed forces.
The repeated attacks on Kyiv’s bridges nevertheless have direct consequences for civilian transportation in a city divided by the Dnipro River.
The bridge campaign also comes as Russia increasingly targets other infrastructure.
Reuters reported Sunday that Russian attacks in recent weeks have targeted telecommunications, electricity, and transportation infrastructure as well as military assets.
Ukraine, meanwhile, is conducting its own increasingly ambitious long-range drone campaign against targets inside Russia.
Diplomacy continues despite escalation
The intensified fighting is occurring alongside efforts to revive negotiations.
The Associated Press reported Sunday that the United States had proposed another round of trilateral technical-level discussions involving Ukraine, Russia and the United States, potentially in the United Arab Emirates later in October.
Zelenskyy said Ukraine was prepared to participate and was awaiting Russia’s response.
There was no indication Sunday that those discussions were close to producing a settlement.
Instead, the immediate military trajectory points toward further escalation.
Russia has announced plans to intensify strikes, while Ukraine has pledged to increase attacks against Russian oil refineries and respond to Moscow’s attacks on Ukrainian infrastructure.
Kyiv bridge attacks add new pressure
Russia’s repeated attacks on Kyiv’s Dnipro crossings add another pressure point to the war.
The Northern Bridge has now been struck repeatedly, while attacks have also damaged the Southern Bridge and disrupted other crossings.
Russia openly acknowledges targeting the Northern Bridge and says it is part of Ukraine’s military logistics system. That military-use characterization remains Russia’s claim, not an independently established fact.
Independent reporting has documented the damage and transportation disruption caused by the attacks.
The latest bridge strike came as Russia sent another 135 drones and other unmanned weapons toward Ukraine overnight, including dozens of jet-powered systems that Ukraine says are increasingly difficult to intercept.
At the same time, Germany’s chancellor was in Kyiv announcing more military and energy assistance and expanding German-Ukrainian defense cooperation.
The combination of repeated infrastructure attacks, increasingly sophisticated drones and competing Russian and Ukrainian promises of retaliation points to a widening long-range phase of the war — even as another attempt at diplomacy remains on the table.
Sources: Reuters; The Associated Press; Ukraine’s Air Force via Ukrinform; Office of the President of Ukraine.
Editor’s note: Military claims made by Russia and Ukraine during the ongoing war cannot always be independently verified. Claims not independently established are attributed to the government or military authority making them.
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