Attacks on bridges in Kiev: "You have to live on somehow"

For weeks, Russia has been targeting bridges in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv. The inhabitants try to come to terms with the traffic chaos as best as possible. The state of emergency is already part of everyday life. By Niels Bula, ARD Kiev evening traffic in Kiev. The passengers in the city bus 110 are close to each other. From the center it goes via the river Dnipro to the other side of the city. Hundreds of thousands commute across the bridges every day - including Andrij. The 32-year-old baker is currently experiencing quite full buses: Full is no expression at all - the buses are just breaking full. And you don't always come in. This morning, for example, a bus just drove by without stopping. In the second I was lucky. Attack also during the Chancellor's visit are the reason for the increasingly violent attacks. For weeks now, Russia has been increasingly targeting bridges. When Chancellor Merz visited Kyiv in early October, a drone struck the North Bridge. Traffic had to be diverted, kilometers of traffic jams were the result. Metro connections also fail more often because of the attacks, passengers have to change to buses. Iryna is on her way to her mother. For them and many others, the feeling of constant threat is everyday: Fear has become, so to speak, a permanent state. You just know that something could happen all the time. People get used to it somehow, but that's not normal. Attacks endanger the economy Russia is not only about the bridges themselves, says Dmytro Bespalov. The expert in transport planning teaches at the National University of Construction and Architecture Kiev. Rather, with these attacks, Russia is targeting the entire Ukrainian economy. “In Kiev, there is a significant imbalance between the distribution of resident population and jobs,” explains Bespalov. “Many people live on the left bank of the Dnipro, while most jobs are on the right bank.” When people stop coming to work, it affects the economy. In addition, a significant part of the freight transport runs over the bridges. Bridge damage difficult to assess how dangerous the impacts are for the stability of the bridges, Bespalov can not say with certainty. A few hits by drones would not let them collapse yet, he believes. However, many bridges are already in need of renovation. An explosion can cause damage that is not visible to the naked eye. So there may be hidden damage, the expert said. "Therefore, you have to observe how the bridge behaves and whether it works within the permissible load limits." Only then can it be assessed whether it can continue to be used safely. “All this takes time,” Bespalow continued. Bus drivers come to terms with the situation The city bus 110 has made its way across the bridge without incident. Bus driver Ruslan Kenja takes a short smoking break before going back to the other side. For him, the attacks on bridges have not changed much. We continue to work normally. If the bridge over which we travel is closed, we go over the North Bridge and inform the passengers, he says. "And in the case of air alarms, we tell via loudspeakers where the nearest shelter is." But how serious the situation is at the moment in Kiev because of the constant air strikes, becomes clear when Ruslan’s break is disturbed. Suddenly, defensive fire is heard. A drone is nearby. We got used to it in the fifth year of the Great War. You have to go on living somehow. That is why we are adapting. Even if it is mentally difficult, we still continue. And then it goes on: Ruslan drives back to the center of Kiev. A state of emergency has long been an everyday occurrence here.