Russia reports collapse of bridges in Bryansk, Kursk – DW – 06/01/2025
A passenger train derailed in Russia's Bryansk region, which borders Ukraine, late Saturday after a bridge collapsed as a result of an explosion.
Alexander Bogomaz, the regional governor of Bryansk, said on the Telegram messaging app that seven people died in the collapse, which occurred in the Vygonichskyi district near a federal highway.
"There are seven dead as a result of the collapse of a bridge onto railway tracks," he wrote. More than 60 are injured, including three children, with one in critical condition.
Putin's silent war — hybrid attacks in Europe ,
To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video
What do we know about the bridge collapse?
The train came off its tracks while it was en route to the Russian capital of Moscow from Klimov in the country's west, Moscow Railways said in a statement.
It initially said the bridge had been damaged "as a result of illegal interference in transport operations" without elaborating, but the post was later removed.
Bogomaz later confirmed reports about an explosion at the bridge.
"There was an explosion on the bridge on the route while the Klimovo-Moscow train was travelling, with 388 passengers on board," he said on state television.
Russia's Investigative Committee also said in a statement that "a road bridge collapsed as a result of a blast" in the Bryansk region at 10:50 pm (1950) on Saturday.
The disaster area is about 100 kilometers (62 miles) from the Ukrainian border. Ukraine has not commented on the bridge collapse or the derailed train.
Second bridge collapses in Kursk
Just hours later, a second bridge collapsed in the border region of Kursk, which borders Ukraine. The Kursk region was the site of a Ukrainian incursion into Russia last August.
Russian investigators said explicitly that both bridges were blown up.
"The incidents have been classified as acts of terrorism," Svetlana Petrenko, a spokeswoman from Russia's Investigative Committee, was quoted as saying by the state RIA Novosti news agency.
Since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine over three years ago, Russia's border regions, including Bryansk, have faced border shelling, drone strikes and covert raids from Ukraine.
Edited by: Sean Sinico and Wesley Dockery
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
DW
an hour ago
- DW
UK: Social media people smugglers to face jail – DW – 08/03/2025
The British government is looking to pass new legislation to clamp down on people smugglers who use social media to promote their services, including English Channel crossings, fake documentation and accomodation. People smugglers who use social media to advertise their services to migrants looking to enter the United Kingdom illegally could face up to five years in prison, according to new plans announced by the British government. The facilitation of illegal immigration is already a criminal offense in the UK, but the government wants to give police and law enforcement agencies more options to combat smuggling gangs who promote illegal crossings of the English Channel online. According to analysis by the British interior ministry, the Home Office, a record 25,000 people have made the dangerous journey this year alone, around 80% of whom used social media to contact and communicate with smugglers. "Selling the false promise of a safe journey to the UK and a life in this country – whether on or offline – simply to make money, is nothing short of immoral," Home Secretary Yvette Cooper told . "These criminals have no issue with leading migrants to life-threatening situations using brazen tactics on social media. We are determined to do everything we can to stop them, wherever they operate." Prime Minister Keir Starmer's center-left Labour government is under increasing domestic pressure to combat what are colloquially known in the UK as "small boats." The term, which US President Donald Trump appeared unfamiliar with during a recent press conference alongside Starmer in Scotland, refers to the flimsy and often over-crowded vessels used by smugglers to transport migrants on the perilous journey from France to England. To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video In November 2024, a smuggler based in the northern English town of Preston was jailed for 17 years after posting videos of migrants apparently thanking him for his help, while Albanian smuggling gangs have been found promoting £12,000 (€13,750 / $15,900) "package deals" including travel and fake documentation, accommodation and illegal work upon arrival. Last month, the government launched a new sanctions regime allowing it to freeze assets, impose travel bans and block banking access for individuals and entities involved in irregular migration. And Home Secretary Cooper told that she was also planning a "major overhaul" of the asylum appeal process in the hope of driving down numbers of arrivals. "If we speed up the decision-making appeal system and keep increasing returns, we hope to be able to make quite a big reduction in the overall numbers in the asylum system," she said. "That is the best way to restore order and control." The opposition Conservative Party, which was in power for 14 years prior to its defeat in the 2024 general election, criticized the plans as "too little, too late." Under pressure from the far-right populist Reform UK party, it has proposed what it calls a "no-nonsense" strategy of automatically deporting anyone who arrives in the UK via unauthorized routes.
Int'l Business Times
6 hours ago
- Int'l Business Times
Ukrainian Drones Spark Fire At Sochi Oil Depot
An Ukrainian drone attack sparked a fire at an oil depot in Sochi, the Russian resort that hosted the 2014 Winter Olympic which is 400 kilometres (250 miles) from the Ukrainian border, authorities said Sunday. Ukraine has regularly hit Russian oil and gas infrastructure in response to attacks on its own territory since Russia began its offensive in February 2022. "Sochi suffered a drone attack by the Kyiv regime last night," the governor of Russia's Krasnodar region, Veniamin Kondratiev, said on Telegram. He said drone wreckage hit an "oil tank, which caused a fire" during the night-time attack. Sochi's mayor, Andrei Proshunin, said there were no victims and that the fire was put out several hours later. Images, broadcast by Russian media but whose authenticity AFP could not verify, showed flames and a thick plumes of black smoke rising from the site. Air traffic was briefly suspended at Sochi airport, Russia's air transport regulator Rosaviatsia said. Ukraine authorities have not commented on the fire. Air strikes on Sochi are relatively rare compared to some other Russian cities. However, Ukrainian drone attacks killed two people there late last month, according to local authorities. Kyiv has said it will intensify its air strikes against Russia in response to an increase in Russian attacks on its territory in recent weeks, which have killed dozens of civilians. The Russian defence ministry said meanwhile that three Ukrainian drones had been intercepted in the Leningrad region, which includes the Baltic port of Saint Petersburg. Overnight strikes by Russia inside Ukraine also left several people injured, authorities said. One missile wounded seven people in a residential district of Mykolaiv, a city near the Black Sea in southern Ukraine, Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko said. Three other people were injured in the northeastern Kharkiv region, she added, while authorities also reported injuries in the Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions in the south. "The Russians continue to wage war not against Ukrainian forces, but against Ukrainian civilians," Svyrydenko said. Last week, US President Donald Trump gave his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin a 10-day ultimatum, until next Friday, to end the conflict in Ukraine. The air strikes and fighting have not abated, however, and the Kremlin has rejected the idea of a lasting ceasefire in Ukraine, which it sees as a gift to Kyiv's troops.
DW
13 hours ago
- DW
Germany updates: Welfare payments up by €4 billion last year – DW – 08/03/2025
Payments of basic state welfare benefits grew by several billion euros in 2024, according to the German government, Retailers are reporting a surge in shoplifting. Read more on these and other stories from Germany. The German state paid out some €46.9 billion ($54.4 billion) in basic welfare benefits last year, a rise of €4 billion over 2023, the government has said. Experts say the rise was partly caused a significant increase in standard rates in 2023 and 2024 due to inflation adjustments. Just over half the payments went to German citizens. Non-German recipients included several hundred thousand Ukrainians who have fled Russia's full-scale invasion of their country. Meanwhile, a retail association says shops are billions of losses per year due to shoplifting. This type of theft is on the rise and nearly all incidents remain unprosecuted, they incurred losses of some €3 billion ($3.5 billion) through shoplifting in 2024, a fifth more than in 2022, according to the German Trade association (HDE), the umbrella body for the German retail sector. Speaking to the t-online website, HDE managing director Stefan Genth noted a growing problem with highly professional criminal gangs. "Groups of offenders drive [..] through inner cities, steal valuable products — perfume, shoes, electronics — and sell them on the gray market," Genth said. He said there were also more aggressive individual offenders who attacked shop staff if they were detected. Genth also said that almost all offenses went unreported. "Retailers make a complaint to police, only for state prosecutors to drop the case for reasons of efficiency. As a consequence, many retailers are frustrated and don't report thefts to the police," he said, adding: "For that reason, the number of unreported cases is extremely high: 98% of shoplifting offenses are not registered." Genth called for changes to laws, more investment in security and more powers for the judiciary. He also said that his association had so far found no connection between the increasing number of self-service checkouts and the rising shoplifting rate. Germany paid out about €46.9 billion ($54.4 billion) to recipients of state welfare benefits in 2024, a rise of €4 billion compared with the previous year, the government as said. The information was provided the Social Affairs Ministry in response to a parliamentary question from the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) in the Bundestag, Germany's lower house of parliament. About €24.7 billion (52.6% of the total) went to German citizens and €22.2 billion (47.4%) went to non-German nationals, according to the data — roughly the same distribution as in 2023. The latter group included several hundred thousand Ukrainians who have fled to Germany following Russia's full scale invasion that started in 2022. The Ukrainian nationals received altogether €6.3 billion. The rise in welfare payments has been in part attributed to a large increase in standard rates due to inflation adjustments, as well as to a rise in accommodation and heating costs. The anti-immigration AfD criticized the payments to non-German nationals, saying they were "spiraling out of control." "Foreigners should generally be denied access to citizen's income [Bürgergeld]," said AfD Bundestag member René Springer. It's worth noting, however, that millions of non-German nationals work in the country, paying into the system via taxes and obligatory social program payments. from DW's newsroom in the former West German capital of Bonn! Many Germans are worried that their welfare system will not be able to survive for long in times of global instability. And while the country remains Europe's biggest economy, retailers are reporting a surge in shoplifting. Follow us for stories on how Germany is coping with the myriad of challenges faced by many countries today, as well as a general roundup of major talking points in Bonn, Berlin, and beyond.
