Russia targets busy Pivdennyi bridge in central Kyiv

The base of a central stanchion on the Pivdennyi bridge was hit late on Thursday morning

Two Russian drones have hit one of Kyiv's main bridges, bringing public transport in the Ukrainian capital to a halt and signalling a new stage in Moscow's attacks.

The Pivdennyi or Southern bridge came under fire as a metro train was travelling across. Passengers described how dust from a blast wave entered their carriage through the ventilation system.

The Pivdennyi bridge is one of the main arteries across the Dnipro river dividing western and eastern Kyiv.

Kyiv's bridges had not been hit before Thursday's strikes - and despite a dramatic explosion close to a main support section, city authorities said preliminary checks "did not find any critical damage to the structure".

For the people of Kyiv, the drone strikes were another powerful reminder that Russia has their city firmly in its sights and is doing everything it can to disrupt life in the capital.

Kyiv had just suffered its first co-ordinated attacks on the city's energy grid since the end of last winter, and commentators believe Russia has stepped up its campaign seeing that Ukraine is suffering from a shortage of air defences.

Strikes on Wednesday also heralded a return to power cuts in the capital. Although Kyiv authorities have spent months constructing smaller-scale power plants to counter Russia's anticipated winter campaign, Prime Minister Serhii Koretskyi said a combined strike on such a scale had not taken place since the end of spring.

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The first big attack on the capital on Thursday came when a Russian drone slammed into the third floor of a school at about 09:00 local time (10:00 GMT).