Russian officials said on Sunday that two bridges in the border area between western Russia and Ukraine collapsed due to explosions, causing two trains to derail, resulting in at least 7 deaths and 69 injuries. The official cause of the explosions has not yet been disclosed.
According to reports from Reuters and the Associated Press, investigators stated that at 10:50 p.m. local time on Saturday, a road bridge over a railway was blown up in the Bryansk region, which borders Russia and Ukraine. The collapsing bridge struck a passenger train passing underneath, carrying 388 passengers en route to Moscow. This incident resulted in casualties among the train passengers, with the train operator being among the victims.
Photos and videos on social media showed some passenger cars trapped under the collapsed road bridge, with wreckage scattered along the railway line. Following the incident, passengers inside the train attempted to climb out of the damaged cars in the darkness.
Four hours after the first bridge collapse, officials reported that in the nearby Kursk region, a railway bridge over a highway was also destroyed by an explosion, leading to a freight train derailment, in an area bordering Ukraine.
The acting governor of the Kursk region, Alexander Khinshtein, stated on Sunday that in the second bridge collapse incident, a freight train was thrown off the tracks, falling onto the road below, with the explosion causing the bridge to collapse. He mentioned that the incident triggered a fire but did not result in casualties.
Russia’s Investigative Committee responsible for investigating serious crimes linked the two incidents and explicitly stated that both bridges were deliberately destroyed. The committee announced that these events would be investigated as potential acts of terrorism.
Governor Alexander Bogomaz of Bryansk region declared a three-day mourning period starting from Monday for the victims.
In a statement, the Moscow Railway Company mentioned that inspectors working on other railway lines in the Bryansk region found damaged tracks on Sunday but did not disclose whether the track damage was related to the bridge collapses.
The Kremlin reported that the Russian Federal Security Service and the Ministry of Emergency Situations had briefed President Putin overnight on the bridge explosion incidents. Putin also had a conversation with Governor Bogomaz.
Russian political figures have been quick to blame Ukraine, accusing them of sabotaging peace talks. The Chairman of the Defense Committee of the Russian State Duma, Andrei Kartapolov, stated on SHOT Telegram that this was undoubtedly the work of Ukrainian special service personnel aiming to provoke tensions before peace negotiations, “as well as to intimidate the public. But they will not succeed.”