Gerasimov Tells Putin Russian Forces Are Targeting Ukraine’s Bridges, Railways, and Data Centers

Russia’s Chief of General Staff Valery Gerasimov reported to the Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin that Russian forces are now specifically targeting strategic bridges, railway infrastructure, and data centers across Ukraine.

Gerasimov made the remarks on Friday, Oct. 16, during a briefing to Putin at a command post of Russia’s Joint Group of Forces, Interfax-Russia reported citing the Kremlin. He confirmed that massive attacks have been launched on the country’s energy infrastructure as well.

“According to the General Staff’s plan, strikes are being carried out on bridges of strategic importance, railway transport facilities, and data centers used in the interest of meeting the needs of the Armed Forces of Ukraine,” Gerasimov said.

Putin ordered commanders to keep up the military campaign, with a particular focus on sustaining large-scale strikes on Ukraine’s military-industrial complex, according to TASS.

Strikes on Kyiv bridges

Gerasimov’s statement amounts to an official acknowledgment of a campaign Russia has been conducting for a few weeks.

Between Sept. 23-25, Russian forces carried out a series of attacks on Ukrainian data centers, including those operated by DATAGROUP, MiroHost, and UTELS. Other communications infrastructure has been hit as well, leaving hundreds of thousands of Ukraine’s citizens without internet access.

President Volodymyr Zelensky convened a meeting of the Staff of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief on Sept. 26, ordering Ukrainian authorities to take additional measures to protect the country’s telecommunications infrastructure.

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Since Oct. 1, Russian drones have repeatedly hit Kyiv’s Southern (Pivdennyi) Bridge and later the North Bridge, forcing closures that paralyzed traffic across the capital.

The Southern Bridge, on which the capital’s green metro line runs, is one of three major crossings across the Dnipro River that separates the city. The North Bridge is a new bridge in Zaporizhzhia that has eight traffic lines.

According to Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) Major Artem Bilyk, Russia is using a “small cuts” approach, with repeated strikes that force bridges to close for inspections and repairs rather than destroy them outright.

Moscow has also been known to carry out “double-tap” strikes – launching a second attack on the same location while rescuers are responding to the scene.

Around the same time, Zelensky said that Putin ordered his military commanders to abandon previous constraints on aerial attacks and intensify strikes on civilian sites.

Russia intensifies strikes after Trump’s self-proclaimed ceasefire

The remarks come amid mounting tensions between Kyiv and Washington, which appear to be helping Russia’s war effort.

On Oct. 9, US President Donald Trump announced an abrupt diesel deal with Putin, saying that Russia agreed to supply over 300,000 tons of diesel fuel to the US and global markets. Another 500,000 tons would follow in November and 1 million tons after that.

The move came while Ukraine’s negotiating delegation was in Miami, hoping to reach a breakthrough with senior US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, and it was condemned by senators of both parties, the EU and Ukraine.

Trump then announced a self-proclaimed energy ceasefire on Truth Social on Oct. 11 without either side formally agreeing to it, and Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said on Oct. 14 that Russia could not be accused of breaking a truce that was never defined.

Although Ukraine abided by it for several days, Russia amplified its attacks on the country’s power plants and left more than 600,000 people without electricity.

Ukraine’s defenses have also come under strain after restrictions on Starlink terminals disrupted its drone operations overnight on Oct. 13-14, including interceptors used against Russia’s jet-powered Shaheds.

Neither SpaceX CEO Elon Musk nor Trump has claimed responsibility for the restrictions. Musk, however, said speed limits on Ukraine’s military Starshield terminals are set by the US military, including Trump himself, not by SpaceX.

Around the same time, US officials threatened Kyiv that intelligence sharing could be cut off if it kept striking Russian energy targets.

Trump has since insisted that cooperation continues.

NATO and EU, as well as Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha, confirmed that there had been no sign that the sharing had stopped, although Ukraine received no early warning from its Western partners about the incoming Russian ballistic missiles for two nights in a row at the beginning of the week.