Former NATO commander urges NATO aviation to shield Kyiv from Russian strikes on bridges
In a Telegraph op-ed, retired British Colonel Hamish de Bretton-Gordon argues that Russia has deployed General Sergei Surovikin to target Kyiv's bridges across the Dnipro and calls on NATO to consider using its air power to protect Ukrainian civilians without directly entering the war. He also urges the West to sharply increase supplies of air-defense missiles, radars, drones and electronic-warfare systems. The column comes after repeated drone strikes on the Pivdennyi Bridge in Kyiv on October 1 and 2 that cut off traffic between the city's banks, and follows a Financial Times interview in which President Volodymyr Zelensky said Putin had lifted all restrictions on striking civilian targets.
Key points
- Hamish de Bretton-Gordon, a retired British colonel and former NATO commander of CBRN rapid-response forces, authored the op-ed for The Telegraph.
- He says Vladimir Putin has tasked General Sergei Surovikin, nicknamed "General Armageddon," with replicating in Kyiv the destruction he oversaw in Aleppo.
- He identifies seven bridges across the Dnipro in Kyiv as obvious Russian targets and warns their destruction would paralyze transport across northern Ukraine.
- He writes that Ukraine is acutely short of air-defense munitions, especially Patriot interceptor missiles.
- He calls on the West to sharply increase supplies of air-defense missiles, radar stations, drones and electronic-warfare systems, and urges NATO to study whether its aviation could shield Ukrainian cities and critical infrastructure without direct entry into the war.
- On October 1 Russia struck the Pivdennyi Bridge twice and on October 2 three more times, damaging a bridge support, a barrier, the roadway and a metro enclosure and fully blocking traffic.
- In an October 1 Financial Times interview, President Volodymyr Zelensky said Putin had lifted all restrictions on striking civilian targets from the air.
Why it matters
The op-ed reframes the air war over Ukraine as a deliberate campaign against civilian and transport infrastructure, with Kyiv's seven Dnipro bridges singled out as high-value targets. It ties that shift to an acute Ukrainian shortage of air-defense missiles, especially Patriot interceptors, and turns the question of expanded Western involvement — including the possible use of NATO aircraft to shield Ukrainian cities — from a hypothetical into a near-term policy debate. The reference point is concrete: drone strikes on the Pivdennyi Bridge on October 1 and 2 have already cut the city in half and forced residents to cross on foot.
What happened
On October 8, 2026, The Telegraph published an op-ed by Hamish de Bretton-Gordon, a retired British colonel and former NATO commander of rapid-response forces for chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear threats. He wrote that Vladimir Putin had deployed General Sergei Surovikin — known as "General Armageddon" for directing strikes on Aleppo during the Syrian war — to carry out similar operations against Kyiv, singling out seven bridges across the Dnipro as obvious targets. De Bretton-Gordon described Kyiv as a transport hub connecting road and rail arteries and warned that splitting the city would paralyze northern Ukraine. He wrote that Ukraine is acutely short of air-defense munitions, especially Patriot interceptor missiles, and that Moscow is exploiting it. It called on the West to sharply increase supplies of air-defense missiles, radar stations, drones and electronic-warfare systems, and urged NATO to study in detail whether its aviation could protect specific areas or critical infrastructure in a crisis without declaring a traditional no-fly zone. The column appeared after Russian drones struck the Pivdennyi (Southern) Bridge in Kyiv twice on October 1 and three times on October 2, damaging a bridge support, a barrier, the roadway and a metro enclosure and fully closing traffic in both directions. Cross-Dnipro restrictions produced multi-kilometer jams and forced some residents to cross bridges on foot. The KMDA says about one million people live on Kyiv's left bank; a Pro-Mobility study from July 2023 estimated roughly half of working-age left-bank residents commute to the right bank daily. On October 1, President Volodymyr Zelensky told the Financial Times that Putin had lifted all restrictions on air strikes on civilian targets, saying the order was given in September when Russia intensified attacks on Kyiv's schools, hospitals and data centers.
How Ukrainian sources describe it
Ukrainian outlets reported the Telegraph column on the day of publication, presenting the claims about Surovikin, the bridge targets and the call for NATO aviation involvement as relayed material from The Telegraph rather than independently endorsed analysis. They anchored the column in concrete events by pairing it with reporting on the October 1–2 strikes on the Pivdennyi Bridge, their impact on Kyiv commuters and the multi-kilometer jams they produced. The coverage also cited the domestic presidential claim that Russia has removed all restrictions on strikes against civilian targets, giving a Ukrainian official source alongside the foreign commentary.
Background
Seven bridges across the Dnipro in Kyiv carry important road and rail traffic, and large-scale damage to them would disrupt transport not only in the capital but across northern Ukraine. Moscow's ground offensive on the Donbas is advancing slowly and at heavy cost, and Russia is struggling to replenish its forces with contract soldiers, with a new large-scale mobilization carrying political risk. In an October 1 interview with the Financial Times, President Volodymyr Zelensky said Putin had lifted restrictions on strikes on civilian targets. General Sergei Surovikin previously commanded Russian forces in Syria, including the campaign that devastated Aleppo, and has been associated with mass strikes on Ukrainian civilian and energy infrastructure.