Russia says train sabotage was Ukrainian ‘terrorist attack’

The two incidents took place on Saturday evening and Sunday morning, respectively. In the first case, a bridge fell in front of a moving passenger train in Bryansk Region. The second incident took place in Kursk Region when a railway bridge collapsed under a moving freight train. In total, seven people died and 113 were injured.

In a statement on Tuesday, the Investigative Committee said that Moscow is treating both sabotage acts as “terrorist attacks.”

“It is clear that the terrorists, acting under the direction of the Kiev regime, planned the attacks with maximum precision to ensure that hundreds of civilians would be affected,” a spokeswoman said.

The committee added that investigators had recovered explosive device fragments and other physical evidence from the scene and had questioned witnesses, injured passengers, and rail railroad employees.

Earlier, Russian business daily Kommersant reported that investigators believe the saboteurs were likely using a US-made C-4 explosive device. They reportedly came to this conclusion after retrieving a 10kg bomb that did not detonate.

Both attacks came shortly before the second round of Russia-Ukraine talks in Istanbul and amid a drastic increase in Kiev’s drone raids into Russia, which Moscow says are aimed at derailing the peace process.

The negotiations in Türkiye brought no breakthroughs, but the sides agreed to conduct the largest prisoner exchange to date and indicated that direct contact would continue. Moscow and Kiev have also exchanged memorandums containing drastically different visions for ending the conflict.

Russia insists, among other things, that Kiev withdraw all troops from the regions that have joined the country in public referendums, agree to bloc neutrality, disband nationalist armed groups, and limit its military capabilities. Ukraine, however, continues to oppose the neutrality principle, wants to have an opportunity to deploy foreign troops on its soil, and is against recognizing any territorial losses.