Surovikin and the Dnipro bridges: the new target of strikes on Kyiv

Russian forces under General Sergei Surovikin will once again focus on Kyiv's bridges, which they already tried to damage last week. Czech media report this, citing British and American outlets. Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities are under almost constant attack by missiles and jet-powered drones: the capital sees several dozen raids a day, including 18 on Tuesday.

Paralysing northern Ukraine

On Thursday and Friday, Russian forces struck the city's energy infrastructure, after which the capital suffered serious power cuts and, in some districts, water outages.

“The seven bridges over the Dnipro are an obvious target,” notes the British newspaper. “Kyiv, like most capitals, is an important road and rail hub. Even halving the number of working bridges would paralyse the whole of northern Ukraine.” According to the American press, without the bridges residents are left with very few alternative routes, and those involve long and dangerous detours.

The nearest road bridge is 145 kilometres south of Kyiv, about two and a half hours' drive given the state of the roads. Other bridges downstream are relatively close to the front and therefore even more vulnerable than those in the capital, many of which are already shielded with anti-drone nets.

What Putin has in mind

“As winter approaches, Vladimir Putin is resorting to the only weapon he consistently uses when his armies fail on the battlefield: terrorising civilians and destroying cities,” the British newspaper writes. In its assessment, the Russian offensive in Donbas has been in serious difficulty for several months: Ukrainian forces are pushing the enemy back near Pokrovsk and Lyman, and Russian losses are exceptionally high. Citing Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, the paper reports that more than 10,000 Russian troops were killed in one of the past weeks.

Putin's tactic, in the paper's view, is clear: “If Russia cannot defeat the Ukrainian army, it will try to break the Ukrainian people this winter.” That is why he has brought back a general who, as early as the initial phase of the invasion, advocated the use of nuclear weapons.

General Armageddon returns

“Surovikin will try to break the population's will this winter,” retired British Major General Chip Chapman told the British newspaper. “He will be tasked with starving Ukraine into capitulation and killing as many civilians as possible.”

“General Armageddon” commanded Russia's military campaign in Ukraine from October 2022 to January 2023. He then advocated nuclear weapons, but Putin removed him. After Surovikin was involved in preparing the mutiny led by Wagner Group chief Yevgeny Prigozhin in the summer of 2023, he was sent to North Africa, where he commanded the “converted Wagnerites” in Algeria. “Now General Armageddon, who razed Syrian Aleppo to the ground and killed thousands of civilians, is returning to do the same to Kyiv,” the British paper concludes.

Around Prague, based on reporting by novinky.cz