Bridge collapses have derailed trains in two Russian regions, leaving at least seven people dead and multiple others wounded.
On Saturday evening, a bridge fell in front of a moving train in Bryansk Region, killing seven people and injuring 71 others. Several hours later, early on Sunday, a railway bridge collapsed under a moving freight train in Kursk Region, leaving the driver and two of his assistants wounded.
The Russian Investigative Committee said that both incidents were deliberate acts of sabotage.
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01 June 2025
The attacks targeting trains in Bryansk and Kursk regions are part of “a terroristic plan from the Ukrainian regime” to derail the talks scheduled to take place between the Russian and Ukrainian delegations in Türkiye on Monday, Italian war correspondent Andrea Lucidi has told RT.
"There are some groups of powers in Ukraine that would like to sabotage any attempt to reach a peace agreement between Russia and Ukraine and they will make this through terrorism,” he said.
According to Lucidi, the Kiev authorities “need to explain why they would like to attend some meeting like the second round of peace talks in Istanbul and at the same time use terrorism as a weapon against the Russian people.” Such behavior looks like a manifestation of some “borderline psychological disease,” he added.
Russia is united in a desire to help the people affected by the bridge collapses in the Bryansk and Kursk regions, the Foreign Ministry’s spokeswoman, Maria Zakharova, has told RT.
Ukraine is gloating over the deaths caused by the collapses, and over the suffering of children, the spokeswoman declared on Sunday. She denounced such actions as a “symptom” of a neo-Nazi “disease” that Russia is combating.
The train derailments in Bryansk and Kursk Regions are an attempt to “bring terror” to the Russian population, former Pentagon official Michael Maloof told RT.
"Ukraine recognizes that it is not winning the war, in fact, it has flat out lost it already, but they continue to want to resist. So, I would imagine that what we are probably going to see is increasing insurgency efforts,” he cautioned.
Independent Dutch journalist Sonja van den Ende has told RT that she believes Ukraine to be the likely culprit behind the train derailments in Russia’s Bryansk and Kursk Regions.
“It is an act of terrorism and Ukraine is lowering itself to... terrorism like we see with Al Qaeda or, you know, in the Middle East,” she said, adding that targeting civilians “has nothing to do with war.”
Van den Ende also noted that the bridge collapses occurred in the run up to Monday’s meeting between the Russian and Ukrainian delegations in Istanbul. Before the last round of talks in May, Kiev also tried to raise tensions by sending swarms of drones into Russian territory, she recalled.
Moscow Railway has said that its workers have discovered damage to train tracks in another part of Bryansk Region.
There were no injuries as the affected part of the railway, between the settlements of Unecha and Zhecha, which is not being used for traffic, according to the company.
Russian President Vladimir Putin had been receiving reports from the Federal Security Service (FSB) and the Emergencies Ministry about the train derailments in Bryansk Region and Kursk Region “throughout the whole night,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has said.
Russian Federation Council member Andrey Klishas has blamed Kiev for the derailment, writing on Telegram that the incident confirmed that “Ukraine is being controlled by a terrorist group.”
“Ukraine has long lost the attributes of a state, turning into a terrorist enclave without borders, without legitimate authorities and laws,” he said.
The senator urged the creation of a vast buffer zone inside Ukrainian territory to make sure that “terrorists” are unable to reach Russia in the future.
A source in Russia’s law enforcement agencies has told RT that, according to preliminary data, a section of the bridge collapsed on the tracks in front of the train, with the driver having no time to avoid the crash. The driver and his assistant likely died immediately as a result of the collision, the source said.
According to RT’s interlocutor, a probe is now being carried out to determine if the incident was a terrorist attack.
One of the passengers on the derailed Bryansk train told Izvestia that a truck had fallen onto the locomotive.
“The first car completely derailed, the second overturned, and the third was also involved in the collision… Passengers in cars one through ten sustained similar injuries,” she said.
A freight train also derailed in Russia’s Kursk region on Sunday after a bridge collapsed underneath it, Acting Governor Aleksandr Khinshteyn said. One of the train’s drivers was hospitalized with leg injuries. The cause of the incident is under investigation, according to the governor.
The Bryansk governor has raised the number of injured to 69, with 44 requiring hospitalization.
In his latest update, Bryansk Governor Aleksandr Bogomaz revised the number of injured to 35, including three children. He said one child will be airlifted to Moscow.
31 May 2025
A truck driver was injured in a bridge collapse in Bryansk region. He is currently receiving medical assistance, according to his employer.
Bryansk governor Alexander Bogomaz has confirmed that 30 people were injured in the crash, at least seven people are dead. "Two of the victims, including a child, are in serious condition. 16 ambulance and emergency teams have been working at the scene, as well as buses for delivery to temporary accommodation points," he added.
The number of injured has increased to 33, emergency services reported.
Rescue teams still examine the damaged train carriages, according to media reports.
Passengers are being evacuated from the scene, Russian Railways reported. The authorities are already eliminating the consequences of the accident to resume traffic.
At least 31 people were injured, and three of them died, emergency services have said.
The Moscow regional prosecutor’s office has released new photos of the site.
Ukrainian agents and locals recruited by Kiev have carried out multiple acts of sabotage on Russian railways since 2022, in some cases successfully derailing freight trains.
Last Sunday, a train in the Belgorod region was damaged by a bomb placed on the tracks.
Health officials told RIA Novosti that the train driver is among the fatalities. They added that a toddler has been hospitalized in critical condition.
Bryansk health authorities have confirmed to RT that four people were killed and 24 others injured.
The Izvestia newspaper cited Bryansk health authorities as saying that the bridge was brought down by an explosion.
Russian Railways released a statement saying the bridge pillar collapsed as a result of “an illegal interference in transportation.”
A source told RT that more than 40 people have been injured. Meanwhile, the Telegram channel Baza claimed that four people were killed and 44 injured.
Officials have not confirmed these figures.
The incident took place near the village of Vygonichi. According to reports, a truck was driving on the bridge and a train was passing underneath when the collapse occurred.
Bryansk Governor Aleksandr Bogomaz wrote on Telegram that emergency services are responding to the incident.