An explosion derailed a freight train in Russia’s Bryansk region on Monday, according to the local governor and Russian railway company, the latest in a series of attacks apparently aimed at the border area. border with Ukraine.
Photos and videos circulating on social media showed a large fire burning and a tilted train, with at least one carriage lying on its side.
The governor of the Bryansk region, Aleksandr V. Bogomaz, blamed an “unidentified explosive device,” said in a post on the messaging app Telegram that there were no casualties. He did not say who was responsible and Ukraine did not claim to be behind the explosion, although Kiev often maintains a policy of strategic ambiguity about attacks on Russian territory.
Russian railway company said in statement that “infiltration by unauthorized persons” derailed the train, causing the locomotive to catch on fire. The statement said the incident had blocked traffic on the railway line.
Rybar, an influential Russian pro-war military blog posted one of the videossaid on the messaging app Telegram that seven carriages carrying petroleum products and sawn timber were lying on their side.
The explosion happened a day after Mr. Bogomaz said four people in the area was killed by Ukrainian shelling from across the border.
Russia has used territories near Ukraine – including the Bryansk region, along Ukraine’s northern border – to launch attacks, fire missiles, launch air strikes and conduct air strikes. another attack during the 14-month war. The Ukrainian government has expressed growing concern that Moscow is using the Bryansk region to launch drone strikes.
Officials in Kiev have said they reserve the right to strike targets inside Russia that they say are used to attack Ukrainian towns and cities, but have promised not to use weapons issued by allies Western allies provide for such attacks, as the allies fear Moscow might view them as offensive behavior. provocative.
In March, Ukrainian special forces said they had destroy an unmanned observer tower in Russia’s Bryansk region using a drone strike, a rare public acknowledgment of a cross-border attack that underscores Kyiv’s growing willingness to strike directly into Russian territory.
That comes a few days after a short time armed attack on a village in Bryansk by parties declaring war for Ukraine, a rare raid inside Russia prompted President Vladimir V. Putin to cancel his trip and call an emergency meeting of his security council.
Marc Santora contribution report.
