Kyiv bridge strike puts infrastructure in focus as Merz brings German business leaders

Air raid sirens and explosions greeted German Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s unannounced visit to Kyiv on Sunday, as a Russian strike hit a key bridge across the Dnipro River. The attack damaged a road and disrupted hot water supplies nearby, according to Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko. Merz arrived with his economy minister and German business executives, bringing talks on weapons production and energy repairs into a capital under attack, Al Jazeera reported.

The Northern Bridge was the second bridge in Kyiv hit over the weekend. Its damage put the city’s infrastructure at the centre of a visit intended to reinforce German support for Ukraine. Merz met President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the National Academy of Sciences, itself damaged by a Russian drone on September 28. Zelenskyy described the strain that repeated attacks were placing on people living in the capital.

Aid and industrial cooperation

Germany is expected to announce a $1.1 billion military aid package alongside $394 million to repair damage to Ukraine’s energy sector. Those announcements would follow a military pact worth more than $4 billion signed by the two countries in April. Al Jazeera described Germany as one of Ukraine’s strongest supporters. The latest planned commitments cover both military support and repairs to energy infrastructure damaged during the war.

Executives accompanying Merz included representatives of Siemens Energy and Diehl Defence. Ukraine and Germany are also expected to finalise an agreement for joint production of drones and other weapons capable of travelling more than 600 miles, or about 966 kilometres. The stated aim is to enable strikes deeper inside Russia. That prospective agreement places shared weapons manufacturing alongside the military aid and energy funding expected during the visit.

In a written statement, Merz said he had come to Kyiv because Ukraine needed comprehensive support in the weeks ahead. He framed that support as a matter of security beyond Ukraine’s borders, warning of wider danger if Russia’s military campaign was not halted.

Merz warned that Russia’s war machine could eventually turn against Ukraine’s supporters if it was not stopped.

Infrastructure attacks intensify

The visit came a day after Russia urged foreign diplomats and other foreign nationals to leave Kyiv to avoid injury. Russia’s Ministry of Defence also said it would step up attacks on Ukraine. According to Al Jazeera, that warning followed Zelenskyy’s comments to Reuters that Ukraine was intensifying its campaign against Russian oil refineries, after civilians were killed and wounded over the weekend.

The wider war is increasingly targeting the systems that keep both countries supplied and connected. Al Jazeera reported that Russia and Ukraine had increased drone and missile attacks on infrastructure, logistics networks and military facilities in recent months. In Kyiv, Klitschko’s account of the bridge strike showed the immediate local consequences: damage to a road and disruption to hot water supplies.

The next developments to watch are the expected German aid announcements and whether the joint weapons production agreement is finalised. Together, they will set out the next commitments on military assistance, longer-range weapons manufacturing and energy repairs as Ukraine faces further threats to its infrastructure.