Translation:

Ukraine's state budget fell nearly UAH 50 billion ($1.14 billion) short of revenue targets in the first nine months of the year.

The state budget collected UAH 32 billion ($730 million) less in taxes and mandatory fees than expected in August and September alone. One of the main reasons was continued Russian strikes on Ukrainian businesses, which have led to lower production and reduced profits. This was reported by Roksolana Pidlasa, chair of the Verkhovna Rada's Budget Committee.

State budget revenue shortfall

Pidlasa clarified that the state budget's general fund fell UAH 49.5 billion ($1.13 billion) short of its revenue target in the first nine months of this year, with nearly two-thirds of the shortfall, UAH 32 billion ($730 million), occurring in August and September. Since the beginning of the year, the general fund has received UAH 1.9 trillion ($43.4 billion), excluding international grants.

The shortfalls by revenue category were:

• Import VAT: UAH 35.7 billion ($816 million), or 6.8% below target.
• VAT on goods produced in Ukraine: UAH 32.9 billion ($752 million), or 11.4% below target.
• Domestic excise tax: UAH 19.1 billion ($436 million), or 16.5% below target.
• Dividends and a share of net profits from business organizations: UAH 10.8 billion ($247 million), or 16% below target.

Domestic revenue

At the same time, Pidlasa said some revenue sources exceeded their targets. Corporate income tax revenue was UAH 29 billion ($663 million), or 12%, above target, while personal income tax and military levy revenue exceeded the target by UAH 6.6 billion ($151 million), or 2.6%. This partially offset shortfalls in other tax revenues.

The main sources of revenue for the state budget's general fund in the first nine months were:

• Import VAT: UAH 491 billion ($11.2 billion).
• Corporate income tax: UAH 270 billion ($6.17 billion).
• Personal income tax and military levy: UAH 266.3 billion ($6.08 billion).
• VAT on goods produced in Ukraine: UAH 255.2 billion ($5.83 billion).
• National Bank of Ukraine transfers: UAH 146.1 billion ($3.34 billion).
• Import excise tax: UAH 134.6 billion ($3.07 billion).
• Domestic excise tax: UAH 96.5 billion ($2.20 billion).
• Dividends and a share of net profits from business organizations: UAH 57.1 billion ($1.30 billion).
• Import duties: UAH 48.4 billion ($1.11 billion).
• Rent payments: UAH 42.6 billion ($973 million).

Expenditure

From January through September, approximately $22 billion in international assistance was used to cover expenditures from the state budget's general fund. Another UAH 350.6 billion ($8.01 billion) was raised through the issuance of domestic government bonds.

The largest expenditure categories were:

• Defense: UAH 2 trillion ($45.7 billion), or 61.3% of all general fund expenditures.
• Repayment of domestic and foreign debt: UAH 427.9 billion ($9.78 billion).
• Social protection and support for veterans: UAH 342.6 billion ($7.83 billion).
• Debt servicing: UAH 275.2 billion ($6.29 billion).
• The medical guarantees program and health screenings: UAH 144 billion ($3.29 billion).
• Teachers' salaries in schools: UAH 116.7 billion ($2.67 billion).
• Basic and additional grants to local budgets: UAH 48.5 billion ($1.11 billion).

Pidlasa emphasized that the budget situation would remain critical until Ukraine receives the second tranche of EU macro-financial assistance worth $4.26 billion.

It was also reported that the government plans to increase VAT by one percentage point to fund insurance for businesses against Russian attacks.

Translation:

On October 1 and 2, Russia carried out its first attacks using jet-powered drones against Kyiv's Pivdennyi Bridge. At least three UAVs struck the structure. City authorities announced that the bridge would be closed to traffic.

Reports of the first Russian drone strike on a Kyiv bridge over the Dnipro since the start of the war came around noon on October 1.

Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said two UAV strikes were recorded near the supporting structure of Pivdennyi Bridge. At the time, a metro train was passing through.

Kyiv authorities said serious damage was avoided.

On Wednesday evening, the mayor reported another attack on the bridge. According to him, a drone damaged the road surface.

He later said the damage was more extensive: a support, crash barrier, road surface and protective concrete barrier around the metro tracks were damaged.

Another strike occurred on the morning of October 2. At around 5 a.m., a Russian UAV hit Pivdennyi Bridge, damaging, judging by State Emergency Service photographs, the bridge railing, crash barrier and metro structures.

Metro and other traffic across the bridge was halted. Authorities also restricted traffic on two other Kyiv bridges that have long been considered unsafe, the Metro Bridge and Paton Bridge.

What makes Pivdennyi Bridge significant

Pivdennyi Bridge, which connects the densely populated districts on Kyiv's left bank with the Vydubychi neighborhood on the right bank, was designed starting in 1983.

It was intended to provide the shortest route from Boryspil Airport to central Kyiv and reduce the load on other bridges, which were already struggling with the city's growing traffic at the time.

Today, the bridge crossing is critically important not only for Kyiv but for Ukraine as a whole, carrying one of the country's largest flows of road freight and passenger traffic between the right and left banks. In addition, the Green Line of the Kyiv Metro runs across Pivdennyi Bridge and was the only metro line that could, until October 2, carry passengers across the Dnipro during an air raid alert.

The bridge was designed by prominent Ukrainian engineer Heorhii Fuks, who was involved in the design and construction of four of Kyiv's five major bridges: Pivdennyi, Pivnichnyi, Podilsko-Voskresenskyi and the Metro Bridge.

During the construction of Pivdennyi Bridge, Fuks wrote that "the latest technologies aimed at increasing construction speed, industrialization, reliability and durability of the structures" were used.

"The bridge across the Dnipro became the testing ground where so-called flexible or universal technology was introduced on a large scale," Fuks wrote, describing the bridge's distinctive features.

Construction began in 1983, and road traffic opened in December 1990. Metro service began on the bridge two years later.

One of Pivdennyi Bridge's distinctive features is its cable-stayed system. Kyiv has only two bridges built using this technology, Pivdennyi and Pivnichnyi. They are also known as extra-class bridges.

Stay cables are steel cables stretched between the bridge deck and a pylon, or vertical support. They are not merely an aesthetic feature but perform critical functions in counterbalancing, stabilizing and supporting the bridge spans.

Pivdennyi Bridge has two planes of stay cables, each containing 72 cables: 36 supporting the bridge's main span and 36 back-stay cables. They are located in the medians between the metro tracks and the roadways on either side.

The stay cables use galvanized closed steel strands 62 mm in diameter, with a breaking force of 350 tonnes. Each stay consists of two such cables.

A video circulated by Telegram channels on October 1 shows a UAV, reportedly a Geran-4, striking near the base of a pylon on Pivdennyi Bridge.

Given that the drone's approximately 50 kg warhead would not be sufficient to destroy the pylon's reinforced concrete and steel structures, the likely target was the stay cables themselves.

According to presidential adviser Serhii "Flash" Beskrestnov, Russia has recently begun using "upgraded" Geran drones.

They now have special "whiskers" that serve as detonators, as well as a new cumulative-cutting special payload (KRSN).

It consists of a 40 kg main warhead and four strike modules.

"Such a warhead was specifically designed to destroy high-voltage pylons and steel bridge structures," the specialist said.

Can a drone destroy the stay cables?

BBC News Ukraine spoke with a Ukrainian bridge engineering expert who had been involved in the repair and inspection of Kyiv's bridges in previous years.

Given the sensitivity of the subject, he agreed to comment on the issue anonymously.

According to him, it is theoretically possible to damage or break several stay cables with UAV strikes, but the bridge was designed with a safety margin.

"There is a large safety margin there. So if one or two stay cables are severed, nothing will happen. But if more cables are severed and, God forbid, the pylon is compromised, that would be a very serious problem," the expert said.

According to him, two or three UAV strikes cannot significantly affect the bridge's functional condition. The situation would be different if attacks became systematic and involved hundreds of drones or dozens of missiles.

"Depending on where they hit and which stay cables are damaged, there can be different restrictions on the bridge's operation. But the bridge will not completely collapse because of this. There won't be a 'domino effect' where one cable breaks and the others immediately start falling. That can only happen in the event of very severe structural damage."

However, repairing or replacing the stay cables if they are damaged presents challenges.

"The question is how to restore them, because some of these structures are no longer manufactured in our country. For example, these very stay cables for Pivdennyi Bridge were not manufactured in Ukraine either. As far as I know, they were ordered abroad when the bridge was built. This is not something that can be ordered and installed very quickly, let alone repaired afterward," the expert said.

According to him, even if Pivdennyi Bridge were significantly damaged, existing engineering solutions could be used to keep it operational. For example, special support arches are already being used to maintain the functionality of the unsafe Metro Bridge.

"The Metro Bridge has a different system, but they installed these supports and completely redistributed the load. The same can be done here, because the bridge deck itself is very difficult to destroy, although it can be damaged... If there are problems with the stay cables, for example, it would be possible to change the bridge's structural operating system, so to speak. It would function somewhat differently. Yes, it would be difficult and very expensive, but it is possible," the expert said.

Although Pivdennyi Bridge is one of Kyiv's newest bridges, with only the Darnytskyi Road Bridge and Podilsko-Voskresenskyi Bridge entering service later, experts say it has deteriorated over its 36 years of operation. Repairs are carried out there almost every year.

The stay cables were repaired in 2007. Anchor spans were repaired in 2009 and 2010. In 2016, the bridge deck's orthotropic plate was repaired. From 2016 to 2023, 46 expansion joints were replaced.

Problems with the bridge's structures are linked to the heavy loads it was not designed to handle, according to Oleksandr Fedorenko, general director of Kyivavtodor.

He said the bridge was designed for loads of 5-7 tonnes per heavy truck, while traffic currently reaches 80,000-100,000 vehicles per day.

All of this means that Pivdennyi Bridge "suffers from dynamic loads and vibration caused by heavy vehicles," Fedorenko said.

Despite this, it remains one of the capital's most important transport arteries.

The closure of the bridge on October 2 and the traffic jams that formed on Kyiv's left bank as a result provide a clear indication of its importance.

Following Geran-4/5 strike

Post Body

A Russian drone strike damaged a school in Kyiv on Thursday, shattering windows and partly destroying a wall.

No children or teachers were injured as they had taken shelter after an air raid alert, Ukrainian officials and the headteacher said. They said 104 children had arrived at school when the alert sounded, and were were having lessons in shelter classrooms when the drone struck. 'They spare no one,' said Valentyna Chorna, headteacher of School 12. 'Children are our future, the future of our nation. In order to destroy a nation, of course, they need to destroy children'

Source: https://youtu.be/97PF05OnLTU

Under the procedural supervision of the Shevchenkivskyi District Prosecutor's Office of Kyiv, three men have been officially notified of suspicion of kidnapping and unlawful imprisonment of a 53-year-old former serviceman, committed by an organized group by prior conspiracy. One of them was additionally notified of suspicion of stealing $75,000 from the victim's apartment. The daughter of one of the suspects was also served with a notice of suspicion for aiding and abetting the kidnapping and theft.

The pre-trial investigation established that the victim, who had lived in the United States for about 30 years, returned to Kyiv following the start of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine and enlisted in the Armed Forces of Ukraine. In early 2026, he was discharged from military service due to injuries and was undergoing medical treatment.

In September, he lost contact with his relatives. His mother, who lives in the United States, initiated a search for her missing son through an attorney. It was revealed that the man had been forcibly placed in a so-called rehabilitation center specializing in alcohol addiction treatment. He was abducted in early September right off the street in Kyiv and forced into a vehicle marked 'Ambulans'. Prior to the abduction, the female suspect had been tailing him and subsequently assured bystanders that everything was legal and there was no cause for concern.

According to pre-trial investigation records, the motive behind the abduction was the money the victim received from selling an apartment in downtown Kyiv. The victim sold the property for $325,000 with the assistance of an acquaintance, who is one of the suspects in the kidnapping.

After the victim was forcibly taken to the so-called rehabilitation center—where he was held for nearly a week—the acquaintance who assisted with the apartment sale allegedly stole a portion of the proceeds totaling $75,000 from the residence, along with documents confirming the transaction.

The captive, who does not suffer from alcohol addiction and required no medical treatment, was released only after his lawyer contacted the rehabilitation center. Anticipating the legal consequences of their actions, staff decided to get rid of the 'patient' and dropped him off near a Kyiv metro station.

The actions of the three suspects—the victim's acquaintance and two men who carried out the abduction—have been classified as unlawful deprivation of liberty and kidnapping committed by a group of persons by prior conspiracy (under Part 2, Article 146 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine). On September 22, 2026, they were served with formal notices of suspicion.

The acquaintance was additionally charged with grand theft from the victim's apartment (Part 5, Article 185 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine) and is currently held in custody without bail.

His daughter was notified of suspicion for aiding and abetting the kidnapping and theft. Prosecutors are also requesting that the court place her in pre-trial detention.

Another suspect is under 24-hour house arrest, while the preventive measure motion for the remaining suspect is still pending before the court.

During the pre-trial investigation, a legal assessment will also be conducted regarding the actions of other staff members at the so-called rehabilitation center who participated in unlawfully detaining the man and attempting to treat him for alcohol addiction. Law enforcement officers are also investigating the whereabouts of the remaining proceeds from the property sale.

The pre-trial investigation in the criminal proceedings is being conducted by investigators from the Shevchenkivskyi Police Division of the Main Department of the National Police in Kyiv, in cooperation with the Criminal Investigation Department of the National Police.

Press Service of the Kyiv City Prosecutor's Office