Explosions triggered 2 bridges in western Russia to break down, officers say, 7 individuals have been killed

Emergency medics transport wounded passengers after a street bridge collapsed on high of a passenger practice within the Bryansk area, situated on Russia’s border with Ukraine on the rail approach station in Moscow, Russia, Sunday, June 1, 2025.
| Photograph Credit score: AP

Explosions triggered two bridges to break down and derailed two trains in western Russia in a single day, officers mentioned on Sunday (June 1, 2025), with out saying what had triggered the blasts. In one of many incidents, seven individuals have been killed and dozens have been injured.

The primary bridge, within the Bryansk area on the border with Ukraine, collapsed on high of a passenger practice on Saturday, inflicting the casualties. The practice’s driver was amongst these killed, state-run Russian Railways mentioned.

Hours later, officers mentioned a second practice derailed when the bridge beneath it collapsed within the close by Kursk area, which additionally borders Ukraine.

On this picture launched by the Russian Emergency Ministry Press Service telegram channel on Sunday, June 1, 2025, emergency workers work at a broken bridge in Russia’s Bryansk area, which borders Ukraine.
| Photograph Credit score:
AP

In that collapse, a freight practice was thrown off its rails onto the street beneath because the explosion collapsed the bridge, native appearing Gov. Alexander Khinshtein mentioned Sunday. The crash sparked a hearth, however there have been no casualties, he mentioned.

Russia’s Investigative Committee, the nation’s high legal investigation company, mentioned in a press release that explosions had triggered the 2 bridges to break down, however didn’t give additional particulars. It mentioned that it might be investigating the incidents as potential acts of terrorism.

Rescue staff cleared particles from each websites, whereas a few of these injured have been transported to Moscow for remedy. Pictures posted by authorities businesses in Bryansk appeared to indicate practice carriages ripped aside and mendacity amid fallen concrete from the collapsed bridge. Different footage on social media was apparently taken from inside automobiles on the street that had managed to keep away from driving onto the bridge earlier than it collapsed.

Harm to railway tracks was additionally discovered Sunday by inspectors engaged on the road elsewhere within the Bryansk area, Moscow Railways mentioned in a press release. It didn’t say whether or not the injury was linked to the collapsed bridges.

Up to now, some officers have accused pro-Ukrainian saboteurs of attacking Russia’s railway infrastructure. The main points surrounding such incidents, nonetheless, are restricted and can’t be independently verified.

Ukraine’s army intelligence, identified by the Ukrainian abbreviation GUR, mentioned Sunday {that a} Russian army freight practice carrying meals and gasoline had been blown up on its approach to Crimea. It didn’t declare the assault was carried out by GUR or point out the bridge collapses.

The assertion mentioned Moscow’s key artery with the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia area and Crimea has been destroyed.

Russia forces have been pushing into the area of Zaporizhzhia in japanese Ukraine since Moscow’s full-scale invasion in February 2022. Russia took Crimea and annexed it in 2014.