Moscow has blamed Ukraine for the collapse of two bridges that killed seven people and injured dozens of others in Russia’s two Western regions bordering Ukraine.
One of the bridges collapsed in Russia’s Bryansk regions on Ukraine’s border in the early hours of Sunday. The regional governor Alexander Bogomaz said the collapsed bridge crashed into railway truck, derailing a train. Bogomaz said seven people were killed and 47 others had been hospitalized as a result of the attack.
The second railway bridge collapsed in Russia’s border Kursk region while a freight train was crossing it. “One of the train drivers has injured his legs — the entire team was taken to the hospital,” Kursk’s acting governor, Alexander Khinshtein said on Telegram.
On Sunday, the Kremlin announced that Russian President Vladimir Putin had been briefed on developments in the Kursk and Bryansk regions. Russia’s Investigative Committee stated that the two incidents were connected, confirming that both bridges had been deliberately destroyed. An initial post by Moscow Railway attributed the Bryansk bridge collapse to “illegal interference,” though the message was later removed.
Mikhail Razvozhayev, the governor of Sevastopol in Russia, condemned the explosion in Bryansk as a “barbaric terrorist act targeting civilians.” The explosions occurred ahead of the new round of peace talks proposed by Russia and amid Washington’s frustration over the stalemate in negotiations.
