OFFICIALS have confirmed seven people dead and 69 others injured after two bridges were destroyed in separate explosions in Russian regions bordering Ukraine in the late hours of Saturday.
Russian investigators revealed this on Sunday, June 1, noting that a highway bridge over a railway in the Bryansk region was blown up at 10:50 pm Saturday night just as a train carrying 388 passengers to Moscow was passing underneath.
Four hours after the incident, a railway bridge over a highway in the neighboring Kursk region was blown up,
Russia’s Investigative Committee, responsible for handling serious crimes, confirmed that both bridges were deliberately blown up and stated that the incidents were connected.
The ICIR reports that the incidents took place shortly before planned peace talks intended to bring an end to the three-year war in between Russia and Ukraine.
The incidents occurred just a day before the United States expects both countries to engage in direct talks in Istanbul to explore a potential end to the war, which Washington said had killed or injured at least 1.2 million people.
United States (US) President Donald Trump has urged both sides to reach a peace agreement and warned that he might withdraw US support if they failed to do so.
While the discussions on peace talks are ongoing, the conflict is intensifying, with both Russia and Ukraine launching swarms of drones and Russian forces making advances at critical points along the eastern front.
Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Russian regions along the border have faced frequent attacks attributed to Ukraine. Both countries have accused each other of targeting civilians, while each side denies the allegations.
Russian President Vladimir Putin was informed overnight about the bridge explosions by the Federal Security Service (FSB) and the Emergency Ministry, according to the Kremlin. He also held a conversation with Bryansk Governor Alexander Bogomaz.
“The bridge was blown up while the Klimovo-Moscow train was passing through with 388 passengers on board,” Bogomaz said.
Similarly, Ukraine’s HUR military intelligence agency reported on Sunday, June 1, that an explosion had derailed a Russian military train carrying cargo and fuel trucks near Yakymivka, a settlement in the Russian-occupied area of Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia region.
The agency neither claimed responsibility for the explosion nor attributed it to any party, although Ukraine had previously taken credit for several attacks deep inside Russian territory.
Similarly, Ukraine said Sunday it launched a “large-scale” attack to destroy Russian bombers.
Kyiv made the claim that Ukraine damaged $2 billion worth of Russian aircraft parked at airbases thousands of kilometers away, coinciding with the announcement that a Russian military strike killed at least 12 soldiers at an army training site.
Meanwhile, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Sunday that he was sending a Ukrainian delegation to Istanbul led by his Defence Minister Rustem Umerov for the talks on Monday with Russian officials.
Zelensky who previously shared scepticism about the seriousness of the Russian side in proposing Monday’s meeting, said he had defined the Ukrainian delegation’s position going into it.
The ICIR reported that the warring nations sent delegates who met last month in Istanbul for their first talks, following a proposal for immediate ceasefire negotiations put forward by Trump, European leaders, and Ukraine.
Nanji is an investigative journalist with the ICIR. She has years of experience in reporting and broadcasting human angle stories, gender inequalities, minority stories, and human rights issues.