2 Russian Railroad Bridges Collapse, 7 Dead In Suspected Sabotage Explosions

As Russia continues to launch massive missile and drone attacks on civilians in Ukraine, the Ukrainians are hitting back. 

Following the devastating Ukrainian drone attack on four Russian airfields that wiped out one third of Russia's strategic bombers, explosions caused two bridges in Russian areas near the Ukrainian border to collapse, killing or injuring a number of Russians and disrupting passenger and freight traffic on those lines, which are important to Russia's war effort. JL

Leo Sands reports in the Washington Post:

Russian officials said Sunday that seven people were killed and at least 76 others injured after two bridges collapsed in neighboring regions, derailing a freight train and a passenger train.  An overpass collapsed in the western region of Bryansk as a Moscow-bound passenger train traveled underneath. Hours later, a train collapsed onto a road after crossing a damaged railway bridge in Kursk. Russia’s top investigative body said explosions had caused the bridges to collapse.

Russian officials said Sunday that seven people were killed and at least 76 others injured after two bridges collapsed in neighboring regions, derailing a freight train and a passenger train.

The incidents occurred within hours of each other overnight in Russia’s Kursk and Bryansk regions, both of which border Ukraine. It was not immediately clear whether they were linked.

 

Russia’s top investigative body said it was treating both bridge collapses as criminal acts. In an earlier statement, later amended without explanation, it said explosions had caused the bridges to collapse.

The incidents come just before Russian and Ukrainian negotiators are due to meet in Istanbul for peace talks, although the date of the U.S.-backed meeting was already in doubt.

Around 11 p.m. on Saturday, the Investigative Committee said, an overpass collapsed in the western region of Bryansk as a Moscow-bound passenger train traveled underneath. Local governor Alexander Bogomaz said falling debris caused the train to derail, killing seven and injuring at least 73 others, including three in serious condition. He said the train had 388 passengers aboard when three of its carriages derailed.

 

Hours later, the Investigative Committee said, a train collapsed onto a road after crossing a damaged railway bridge in Kursk, injuring three train workers at around 3 a.m. No deaths were reported in the second incident.

Alexander Khinshtein, Kursk’s acting governor, said in a post on Telegram that one of the freight train’s drivers sustained leg injuries. A photograph released by Khinshtein showed the derailed train jutting off the collapsed bridge. “The cause of the bridge collapse will be established,” he said.

In Bryansk, where the first collapse occurred, photographs showed a large rescue operation underway Sunday morning at the site of the explosion, with debris strewn widely under a collapsed highway bridge. Rail officials said the train’s driver was among those killed, while nine crew members were also hospitalized.

 

Bogomaz, the governor, said five victims, including a 4-month-old baby in serious condition, were transported to Moscow to receive medical treatment.

Photographs of the scene released by Russian officials, which The Washington Post could not independently verify, showed a twisted passenger railcar resting on its side beside a collapsed highway overpass.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Sunday that Russian President Vladimir Putin had received reports from Russian intelligence officials and the Emergency Ministry on the overnight blasts.

Some Russian officials accused Ukraine of playing a role in the Bryansk bridge collapses. Andrey Klishas, a top Russian lawmaker, described Ukraine’s government as a “terrorist group” in a post on social media Sunday morning.

Ukraine’s foreign and defense ministries did not respond to requests for comment early Sunday.

 

The incidents come amid growing uncertainty over the next round of peace talks between Russia and Ukraine. After Moscow refused to produce its promised peace terms before a meeting scheduled for Monday in Istanbul, Ukraine has declined to commit to a date set by Russia for the U.S.-backed talks.

Last month, Russia launched some of its largest airstrikes against Ukraine since it invaded the country over three years ago, killing 12 people in a barrage of overnight drone and missile strikes, according to authorities.

Ukraine has lost most of the territory it captured last summer across the border in Russia’s Kursk region and has said Russian troops are amassing ahead of a planned offensive this summer. Analysts have said that the Kremlin plans to carry out a main push into the eastern Donetsk region, which it has been trying to conquer in full since the beginning of its invasion in 2022, as well as smaller attacks along the border of Ukraine’s northeast Sumy and Kharkiv regions.