After overnight Russian attacks on Friday 2 October 2026, Kyiv closed or restricted three crossings over the Dnipro. Morning traffic piled onto the bridges that were still open, and taxi apps pushed left-bank to right-bank fares sharply higher. Pound figures below are approximate, using about 60 hryvnia to the pound.
Ukrainian News published screenshots from that morning in which one standard left-to-right fare hit UAH 1,609 (£26.80), matching its Priority option, while Comfort and Business ran to UAH 1,799 (£30) and UAH 2,299 (£38.30). Focus, citing local channels, said some drivers were asking up to UAH 2,300 (£38.30). Other quotes the same day were far lower: Novyny.live saw one Uklon standard trip from Lisova metro to Arsenalna at UAH 528 (£8.80), and Glavcom put a typical rush-hour left-to-right range at about UAH 700 to UAH 1,100 (£11.70 to £18.30). The price depended on the app, the car class and the exact pickup.
Why the fares jumped
Ukrainian News linked the spike to dynamic pricing. When bookings surge in one area and too few free drivers are nearby, the algorithm raises the fare. Glavcom said the apps applied a higher demand multiplier once three crossings were shut and traffic built up on the Darnytskyi and Podilskyi bridges.
The squeeze was not only on the roads. Novyny.live noted that during an air-raid alert, the Sviatoshynsko-Brovarska metro line only runs on its underground stretch from Akademmistechko to Arsenalna, so there is no direct metro hop from Lisova to Arsenalna. That leaves more people competing for taxis and the remaining surface routes. The same outlet also found big gaps between apps on the same corridor: on some left-bank to Arsenalna searches, Uklon and Bolt standard fares differed by more than UAH 300 (£5), depending on which open or partly open bridge the routing used.
Bridges shut, traffic stuck
At 07:04 the Kyiv city portal said public transport was temporarily restricted on several bridges after the overnight strikes. The Southern Bridge was closed both ways. The Paton Bridge was closed both ways. The Metro Bridge was closed towards the right bank. Buses were diverted onto the Darnytskyi and Podilskyi crossings.
At 07:52 Mayor Vitali Klitschko, citing law enforcement, tightened that picture. Interfax reported him saying the Southern Bridge was fully closed from both sides, the Metro Bridge was limited to one lane from left bank to right, and the Paton Bridge was fully restricted from the right bank to the left.
The result was gridlock. Glavcom reported a large jam in Pechersk from the Paton closure towards the left bank, more queues on the Dnipro embankment towards the right bank and in Osokorky, and dozens waiting at stops for the right bank, including at least 50 at one stop. Ukrainian News, citing Kyiv24, reported the same jam zones and said some passengers abandoned public transport and walked. A Waze shot it published at about 09:51 showed heavy traffic on the left bank and by the Dnipro crossings, marked red near the Darnytskyi Bridge and the embankment.
Why the bridges were closed
The pressure on the network followed strikes on the crossings themselves. Glavcom recalled that on 1 October Klitschko reported two drone hits near the supporting section of the Southern Bridge. Metro and surface transport stopped using it while Kyivavtoshliakhmist inspected the structure. Later that evening, Glavcom said, another hit struck the roadway. The city portal recorded a further strike on the Southern Bridge at 05:04 on 2 October, with emergency services sent to the scene.
The same morning attack also hit civilian areas. At 06:30 the portal reported a strike on the upper floors of a residential high-rise in the Darnytskyi district and a fire. Kyiv police said the blaze was on the 24th and 25th floors. Officers found the body of a 24-year-old woman in one flat. A 49-year-old woman was hospitalised with poisoning from the fire, and a 33-year-old man suffered burns and was in a serious condition. Ukrainian News said roads blocked with cars hampered the emergency response. In the Holosiivskyi district, Klitschko said debris fell on open ground, damaging windows in a non-residential building and several cars, with no fire and no injuries.
Restrictions ease through the day
Through the morning the city shuffled bus diversions as individual bridges opened or closed again. Around midday Kateryna Pop, spokesperson for the Kyiv City Military Administration, told the My-Ukraina channel that every restriction was still in force except one: the Paton Bridge had reopened in both directions. NV, reporting her remarks at 12:18, said entry from the right bank was allowed only from Mykola Mikhnovskyi Boulevard, formerly Druzhby Narodiv, and that other right-to-left entries stayed closed. The city portal's running update, which by 14:32 had put bus 1-M back on its own route, had not marked the Southern Bridge open again.
For anyone booking across the Dnipro that morning, there was no single city fare. The same left-to-right trip could cost a few hundred hryvnia or more than two thousand, depending on the app, the car and how much of the bridge network was still usable.