Early history According to the chronicles, the earliest floating bridge across the
Dnieper River in the area was built in the 1115. It was located near
Vyshhorod or, according to different accounts, near the
Vydubychi Monastery. Records exist about another floater in the 17th century with stationary approaches from the shores. Such bridges could only be temporary, as the Dnieper freezes over in most winters at Kyiv's
latitude, and
ice drift each spring remain a concern even for modern bridges. Additionally, the river current was especially strong before the Dnieper was
dammed in the 20th century. Therefore, the cross-river traffic was carried by boats and ferries for many centuries.
First stationary bridges: late 19th to early-20th century From the mid-19th century to the mid-20th century, Kyiv was served by two stationary bridges. Both bridges had similar fates. Built at the times of the
Industrial Revolution in the
Russian Empire these engineering masterpieces of their time survived
World War I and the
Russian Civil War. Both were blown up in 1920 by the
Polish troops retreating from Kyiv following the joint Polish-Ukrainian anti-Soviet
Kyiv offensive.
Nicholas Chain Bridge , photographed in 1896 The first stationary bridge in Kyiv was built between 1848 and 1853. This -long
Nicholas Bridge was a chain
suspension bridge rested on five pillars. Being one of the largest and most beautiful bridges in Europe, it was the pride of the city until it was blown up in 1920 by the
Polish troops. The heavily damaged bridge was not subject to the restoration and in 1925 a new bridge was constructed in its place under the name Yevheniya Bosch Bridge (see below).
Struve (Darnytskyi) Railroad Bridge The Struve Railroad Bridge, Kyiv's second stationary bridge, was built in 1868–1870 with the construction supervision conducted personally by
Amand Struve. This over 1 kilometer long railroad
truss bridge was initially named to its constructor, engineer Struve. Standing on 13 piers, over long, the bridge was the longest in Europe at that time. During the construction Struve first in the
Russian Empire used
caisson method to lay the foundation . On February 17, 1870 the first train by the Kyiv-
Kursk railroad company arrived through the bridge to the
Kyiv railroad station. Similarly to the Nicholas Bridge, the Struve Bridge survived
World War I and the
Civil war, but was blown up in 1920 by the retreating
Polish troops (
see: Kyiv offensive).
Rusanivsky bridge The bridge was built in 1906 and was blown up in 1943 by the retreating forces of Nazi Germany. Rusanivsky bridge connected the
Darnytsia region with the city of Kyiv by the
Brovary chaussée (highway). The bridge was designed by architect V.Apishkov. In 1965 in its place was erected the
Metro Bridge and the Rusanivsky
Metropolitan Bridge (extension of the first) which both are part of the
Svyatoshyno-Brovary Subway Line (SBL).
Between World War I and World War II New bridges were built in the early
Soviet years but were destroyed in the first months of the
1941 Nazi German invasion. Restored by forced labor of war prisoners and civilians during
German occupation they were blown up again by Germans when they retreated from Kyiv in November 1943.
Bosch bridges Within months after the Polish troops blew up the original chain bridge, that very summer 1920 the Ukrainian engineer
Evgeny Paton proposed the reconstruction project that would have reused the old chains to be lifted from under water. However, rusting made the metallic parts of the old bridge unusable and for the following two years Paton worked on several projects of the Nicholas bridge's restoration. He ended up proposing to construct a totally new bridge but this proposal was declined by the supporters of the reusing of the old elements from underwater. The year of 1923 passed in arguing between the two proposals. The construction overseen by Paton was finished by 1925. The was named after the former Soviet
People's Secretary of Internal Affairs and a fierce
Bolshevik,
Yevgeniya Bosch. Following
the Nazi attack on the Soviet Union, the bridge was destroyed on September 18, 1941, by retreating Soviet forces. A
pontoon bridge was built on its place by forced labour under German occupation, which was destroyed again by German troops retreating from Kyiv.
Darnytskyi Railroad Bridge The replacement Darnytskyi railroad bridge was built in the early 1920s but shared the fate of the
Bosch Bridge. Destroyed in the first months of the
Great Patriotic War, it was restored during
German occupation by forced labor, and was destroyed again by retreating German troops. During the
Battle of Kyiv, Red Army's attempt to catch the bridge by landing forces was unsuccessful. The Germans blew up the bridge under the eyes of the Soviet landing force unit. The landing unit was disbanded for the operation failure. Immediately after the liberation a temporary wooden bridge was built at the location of the blown up Darnytskyi bridge by the
Red Army engineers in the record thirteen-day time (some sources cite thirty days) in the urgency to facilitate the pursuit of the
German army on its retreat from Ukraine. The record short construction time plan was met despite the frequent German bombing raids. 50,000 Kyivites took part in the bridge construction.
Underwater tunnels A few years before
World War II the
Soviet government planned two underground railroad lines to be laid underneath the bedrock of
Dnieper river. One tunnel line (Northern) would have stretched from the Obolon neighborhood (
Obolon Raion) and to what is known as Vygurivshchyna (
Desna Raion) near
Voskresenska Slobidka on the left bank of Dnieper in the close proximity of
Troieschyna. Another line (Southern) was planned to cross the Dnieper from the
Zhukiv Island to
Osokorky (
Darnytsia Raion). The project came up in a fear that in case of a war the bridges over the Dnieper were a vulnerable part of the regional transport infrastructure, and tunnels might be a long-term strategic solution. The construction started in 1936 was planned to be finished sometime in 1944. The
NKVD oversaw the project, drafting hundreds of military, civilian and
prison workers to work on it. The underdeveloped technology of the time required special makeshift
caissons (vertical
mines for ventilation and soil extraction) to be built in the middle of the river. Due to technical failures and the start of the war, the construction was never finished or even disclosed to the public. The builders were able only to connect the Right Bank with the close Zhukiv Island (where the present-day southern port is situated). The flooded entrance to the tunnel and abandoned caissons can now be seen in the forests and bays of
Holosiivskyi Raion. Contemporary amateur researchers believe that a large secret base component of the project, including a train station, barracks and mass graves of workers, are also located in the depths of the tunnels. After the start of
World War II all tunnel construction (known as the Construction No.1) was suspended and afterwards recognized as unreasonable. Nonetheless, the entrances to the unfinished tunnels still exist around the mentioned neighborhoods, which are mostly unguarded.
Modern bridges :
Note: Bridges are listed southwards along the river flow. Pivnichnyi Bridge The road-only
Pivnichnyi Bridge () (until February 2018 the bridge was named
Moskovskyi Bridge), designed by the architect A.V.Dobrovolsky and engineered by G.B.Fux, was built in 1976. It is a
cable-stayed bridge, with the
beam of the main span being held by a cluster of steel ropes which are fixed to a 115 meters tall A-
pylon. The bridge consists of two spans: a long and wide span across the Dnieper and a long, wide span across the
Desyonka, a Dnieper tributary. The northernmost of the city bridges, Pivnichnyi Bridge is a key structure on the northern end of the
Kyiv Smaller Ring Road, connecting
Pochaina to the densely populated north-eastern residential neighborhoods, mainly
Troieschyna. From the moment of its construction the bridge was built as a high-speed motorway, which it remains to this day.
Rybalskyi Railroad Bridge The
Rybalskyi Railroad Bridge () is made of steel
trusses. It was originally built in 1929 and was known as Petrovskyi Bridge at that time. Like other bridges, it was blown up in the course of
World War II, but was not heavily damaged and was reopened in 1944. The Rybalskyi Railroad Bridge completes the railway circle around Kyiv. However, the bridge is limited to slow-speed rail traffic due to its age.
Harbor bridges Rybalskyi (Fisherman's) Bridge A steel bridge connects
Podil neighborhood to the
Rybalskyi Peninsula over the Kyiv Harbor. In the 1990s, the bridge was found unsafe for automobile traffic and since 2001 it was reserved for
pedestrians only. The bridge was fenced off from February 2, 2009 and set to be dismantled. In 2019 the bridge was closed for pedestrians in preparation for its demolition.
Havanskyi Bridge The automobile-only
Havanskyi ("Harbor") Bridge was opened on 17 December 2007 for automotive traffic from
Podil towards
Obolon across Havan' () — the harbor in the mouth of the former
Pochaina River, with the construction being started in 2003, serving as a substitute for the closed Rybalskyi Bridge. On October 23, 2010 the bridge was opened for two-way traffic together with an adjacent flyover on the right bank.
Parkovyi Footbridge The , also known as the Parkovyi Footbridge, designed by architect V. Suvorov and engineered by V. Kiriyenko, was built in 1957. The bridge is a light construction in length that connects Kyiv to the park-area
Trukhaniv Island. This is the only bridge constructed specifically for the pedestrian traffic over the Dnieper fairway, and for this reason it's formally included in the number of Kyiv bridges across Dnieper.
Venetian Bridge The automobile-only , designed by architect A. Ilyashenko and engineered by V. Koval, was built in 1966. The bridge spans the Venetian Canal dividing the Venetsiiskyi Island and the Dolobetskyi Island.
Rusanivka Bridges The
Rusanivka Bridges were built in the 1960s over the Rusanivka Canal, connecting the neighborhood with the rest of Left Bank city. There are 5 bridges, 2 of them are exclusively pedestrian. Prior to
World War II Rusanivka has been connected to the rest of Kyiv by a bridge, but it was destroyed during the war. The Rusanivka bridges are a popular place for amateur fishermen.
Metro Bridge The auto-and-rail
Metro Bridge (), engineered by G. Fux and Y. Inosov and built in 1965. The bridge is used for both the
Sviatoshynsko-Brovarska Line of
Kyiv Metro and automobile traffic (being part of the
Brovary Parkway). The Metro bridge consists of two spans as it links the central
Hydropark island as well as the left and right banks. The larger span consists of an elevated central Metro deck and side automobile decks on separate, lower spans. Both the Metro and automobile paths have a distinct arched contour. This was because the Metro line continues into the hill of the right bank with the
Dnipro station. The smaller span called
Rusanivskyi Bridge, which links the Hydropark with the left bank, is a conventional, level span, with two northern traffic lanes and a southern Metro path.
Paton Bridge . The 1,543 meters long automobile-only
Paton Bridge (), built in 1953, is the longest of the Dnieper bridges in the city. It was the first fully
welded steel construction of such length in the world to the date of completion and it was the longest bridge in
Europe at that time. The bridge was named after
Evgeny Paton, the famous welding engineer who developed the technology for the structure. He died a few weeks before the construction was completed, never seeing his masterpiece. Initially carrying the automotive traffic and
cross-Dnieper tram lines, the bridge have recently been renovated. The tram rails were removed and the
electric trolley bus infrastructure was added to the bridge. Shutting down the tram line that historically served the bridge has met the mixed reception from the Kyivites, despite the municipal authorities claimed that the tram service over the bridge has become impractical. The bridge currently has 3 traffic lanes in both directions and one
reversible lane connecting
Pechersk to the Left Bank.
Darnytskyi Railroad Bridge The old
Darnytskyi Railroad Bridge (), engineered by I. Barenboym and E. Radzevich, was built in 1949. It took the place of an older bridge, which was destroyed in 1941 in the first days of the
German invasion of the Soviet Union (
see the earlier history section.).
New Darnytskyi Bridge The New Darnytskyi Bridge is an auto-and-rail bridge, constructed south of the existing Darnytskyi Railroad Bridge. The bridge carries 2 lanes of railroad, and 6 lanes of auto traffic. The bridge's expected capacity is 60,000 vehicles and 120 pairs of trains per day. As of the last government notice, the bridge was expected to be completed in 2012. Following the construction of the bridge, a new major passenger terminal will be completed in the
Darnytsia Railway Station on the Left Bank of the city. In 2023 part of the ramps providing access to the bridge from the left bank were finished, and as of 2024 another ramp was still to be completed.
Pivdennyi Bridge The auto-and-rail
Pivdennyi ("Southern") Bridge (), designed by the architect A. Gavrilov and engineered by G. Fux, was built in 1990. It is the second
metro bridge in Kyiv, serving both the
Syretsko-Pecherska metro line and automobile traffic. The
shrouds holding the spans on the bridge are supported by a two-column
ferroconcrete construction in height. The bridge currently has 3 traffic lanes in both directions. It connects the
Vydubychi to the rapidly developing left-bank
Darnytsia neighborhood, completing the southern end of the
Kyiv Smaller Ring Road uk] route.
Bridges in construction Due to a large traffic increase since the late 1990s, more bridges are needed to avoid traffic jams on and around already existing bridges. Specifically, the central rail route from the
central railway terminal via the Darnytskyi Bridge is overloaded, limiting the railroad traffic in Eastern Europe. Two bridges are currently under construction (one, the New Darnytskyi Bridge, already operational) and one more is planned according to the Kyiv Development Plan. In addition, in 2006 a project was unveiled to provide decorative night illumination to most of the bridges.
Podilskyi Bridge The construction of a new long metro/automobile bridge () across
Trukhaniv Ostriv, on the midway between existing Rybalskyi Rail Bridge and Parkovyi Bridge, was included into Kyiv's urban development plan in the 1980s. Major construction on the site started in 2003 and was planned to finish in 5 years, however the project lagged due to lack of funding. The construction was contracted by the Kyiv municipality and sponsored from the city budget, being accompanied by a number of
corruption scandals. In 2023 the bridge was opened for
bus traffic, and in December 2024 movement of private transport was opened. As of 2025 works on the left-bank section of the bridge have been ongoing, with the project being 88% complete. The bridge is a part of the future
Podilsko-Vyhurivska Line, and it will carry 3 lanes of auto traffic in both directions. ==Alternatives to bridges==