2025 Russia bridge collapses

At 22:44 (Moscow Time) on 31 May, a passenger train hauled by a TEP70 diesel locomotive traveling from Klimov to Moscow via Bryansk, on its way to the A240 road bridge, was derailed when a powerful explosion collapsed half of the bridge at an angle of 45°, which caused one of the Miratorg trucks traveling on the bridge to fall down. A moment later, the locomotive collided with the collapsed structure, causing several passenger cars to overturn.{{Cite web |title=Мост обрушился на пассажирский поезд в Брянской области |url=https://47news.ru/articles/270533/ |access-date=1 June 2025 |website=47 Новостей Ленинградской области |language=ru}} There were several other Miratorg trucks on the bridge, which later complicated the rescue operation to save those trapped under the debris of the train; there were more than 70 people under the rubble, including children.{{Cite web |date=1 June 2025 |title=Первая официальная информация о пострадавших при обрушении моста под Брянском: Грудной ребенок в тяжелом состоянии |url=https://www.fontanka.ru/2025/06/01/75530963/ |access-date=1 June 2025 |website=ФОНТАНКА.ру |language=ru}}

The preliminary cause of the collapse was said to be an explosion. According to Telegram channels, the bridge was blown up in two places via four explosive devices, of which two were placed on the bridge support and two on the sleepers.{{Cite web |date=1 June 2025 |title=ЧП в Брянской области: мост обрушился на проезжавший поезд. Главное |url=https://www.kommersant.ru/doc/7773744 |access-date=1 June 2025 |website=Коммерсантъ |language=ru}}

At 02:30 on 1 June, nearly four hours after the Bryansk bridge collapse, a railroad bridge in Zheleznogorsky District in Kursk, {{Convert|48|km|mi}} into the Trosna–Kalinovka highway and over which a 2TE10MK-0680 diesel locomotive with several freight cars was traveling, collapsed down onto a highway.{{Cite web |date=1 June 2025 |title=Хинштейн сообщил об обрушении моста и поезда в Курской области |url=https://www.kommersant.ru/doc/7773777 |access-date=1 June 2025 |website=Коммерсантъ |language=ru}} The train caught fire.{{Cite news |date=1 June 2025 |title=At least seven dead after two Russian bridges collapse |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cr7zjy89304o |access-date=1 June 2025 |publisher=BBC News}}

File:Train crash under bridge near Vygonichi 01.06.2025.webm

In Bryansk Oblast, the TEP70 diesel locomotive and several passenger coaches suffered irreparable damage. Both driver's cabins of the diesel locomotive were almost completely destroyed and half of the roof and walls of the body were flattened on the side of one of them. Some cars were twisted and bent, and some had their bogies torn off. By 1 June, the locomotive and three passenger cars damaged by the incident had been removed, and the process of clearing the remains of the fallen overpass structures had begun. The truck was also damaged, but to a lesser extent.{{cite web |url=https://www.fontanka.ru/2025/06/01/75532145/ |title=At the site of the train bridge collapse in the Bryansk region, the train and cars began to be removed |website=fontanka.ru |date=June 2025 |lang=ru| access-date=1 June 2025}}

Seven people, including the driver and assistant, died in the first Bryansk Oblast bridge collapse, while 119 others were injured, including the truck driver, three children and an infant.{{Cite web|url=https://rg62.info/2025/06/02/chto-izvestno-o-postradavshih-v-rezultate-krusheniya-mosta-na-passazhirskij-poezd-v-bryanskoj-oblasti/|title=Что известно о пострадавших в результате крушения моста на пассажирский поезд в Брянской области|date=2 June 2025}} Among those sent to Moscow for treatment included four children.{{cite web |date=1 June 2025 |title=«База» публикует список детей, пострадавших в железнодорожной катастрофе в Брянской области |trans-title="Baza" publishes a list of children injured in the train crash in the Bryansk region |publisher=Baza |via=Telegram |url=https://t.me/bazabazon/37867 |access-date=1 June 2025 |archive-date=1 June 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250601153251/https://t.me/bazabazon/37867 |language=ru}}{{cite web |date=1 June 2025 |title=До 89 человек выросло число пострадавших после подрыва моста в Брянской области и крушения поезда «Климов - Москва» |trans-title=The number of people injured after the bridge explosion in the Bryansk region and the derailment of the Klimov-Moscow train has grown to 89 |access-date=1 June 2025 |publisher=Baza |via=Telegram |url=https://t.me/bazabazon/37894 |archive-date=1 June 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250601224127/https://t.me/bazabazon/37894}}

About 40 people received medical care in local hospitals.

In Kursk Oblast, the first section of the 2TE10MK locomotive fell along with the bridge onto the road and turned on its side, receiving moderate damage, the second section of the locomotive and freight cars remained on the track, but derailed and were turned sideways at an angle and their bogies were torn off. It was initially reported that three people - the locomotive's driver and two of his assistants - were injured and hospitalized. Russian Railways later announced that one of the train workers had succumbed to their injuries in hospital.{{Cite news |date=1 June 2025 |title=Officials Investigating 2 Separate Train Crashes In Western Russia; 8 Killed |url=https://www.rferl.org/a/russia-train-bryansk-klimov-derailment/33430473.html |access-date=1 June 2025 |publisher=Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty}}

Immediately after the explosion and collapse in Bryansk, people who were near the scene began to help pull people out from under the wreckage of the train and bridge.{{Cite web |title=Младенец находится в тяжелом состоянии после обрушения моста в Брянской области // Новости НТВ |url=https://www.ntv.ru/novosti/2904324/ |access-date=1 June 2025 |website=NTV|language=ru}} 16 ambulances and a rescue team were dispatched to the scene. All the injured were taken to a safe distance and examined by medics.{{Cite web |title=Baza: Четыре человека погибли после подрыва моста в Брянской области |url=https://vm.ru/news/1233595-baza-chetvero-chelovek-pogibli-posle-podryva-mosta-v-bryanskoj-oblasti |access-date=1 June 2025 |website=Вечерняя Москва |language=ru}}

The transportation prosecutor's office said it was conducting an audit. It described the events as "unlawful interference in transportation operations". The collapses were probed as acts of terrorism.

The Russian Investigative Committee initially stated that both bridges were collapsed by explosions, then it removed the mention of "explosions", so the statements read the bridges simply "collapsed" and then once again restored the "explosions" wording on the following day.{{Cite web |title=The Russian Investigative Committee Has Removed From Its Telegram Channel A Reference To The Bridge Bombing |url=https://charter97.org/en/news/2025/6/1/642714/ |access-date=4 June 2025 |website=charter97.org |language=en}} It blamed the acts on terrorists acting on the orders of the "Kyiv regime".{{cite web |title=Russian authorities blame bridge collapses on 'terrorists' working for 'Kyiv regime' |url=https://meduza.io/en/news/2025/06/03/russian-authorities-blame-bridge-collapses-on-terrorists-working-for-kyiv-regime |website=Meduza |language=en}}

In the beginning of June 2025, additional explosions occurred in the Russian railway in the southwest of the country. These events did not yield victims but severely destroyed operation of transport system.

On 1 June in the morning, another explosion occurred in Bryansk Oblast — on the Unecha–Zhecha section when a track-measuring locomotive with two cars was passing overhead. No damage or casualties were reported.{{cite web |title=Еще один подрыв на железной дороге в Брянской области: предварительно, около 11 часов по московскому времени произошел взрыв на перегоне Унеча-Жеча |trans-title=Another explosion on the railway in the Bryansk region: preliminary, at about 11 o'clock Moscow time, an explosion occurred on the Unecha-Zhecha section |date=1 June 2025 |publisher=Baza |via=Telegram |url=https://t.me/bazabazon/37866 |access-date=1 June 2025 |archive-date=1 June 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250601094230/https://t.me/bazabazon/37866 |language=ru}}

{{cite web |date=1 June 2025 |title=Фото с места подрыва на перегоне «Унеча — Жеча» в Брянской области |trans-title=Photo from the site of the explosion on the Unecha-Zhecha section in the Bryansk region |access-date=1 June 2025 |publisher=Baza |via=Telegram |url=https://t.me/bazabazon/37868 |archive-date=1 June 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250601115551/https://t.me/bazabazon/37868 |language=ru}}

{{main|2025 Crimean Bridge explosion}}

On 3 June 2025 early in the morning (at 4:44), the Crimean Bridge across the Kerch strait was attacked. The attack targeted the underwater supports of the bridge. Road traffic was resumed after a several-hours suspension, nobody was injured and no visible destruction appeared, although Ukraine claimed underwater damage.{{cite web |url= https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/jun/03/ukraine-hits-bridge-linking-crimea-to-russia-with-underwater-explosives |title= Ukraine hits bridge linking Crimea to Russia with underwater explosives |work= The Guardian |author= |date= 3 June 2025 |accessdate= 7 June 2025 |quote= the operation against the Kerch bridge... had “severely damaged” the base of the bridge supports}}

On 5 June, an explosion occurred at the Yevdakovo-Saguny railroad crossing in Voronezh Oblast. Several improvised explosive devices were found at the scene of the incident. The Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation said that the tracks had been blown up. It happened before the train approached, but the driver and his colleagues noticed the damage to the rails in time and undertook emergency braking.{{Cite web|url=https://www.gazeta.ru/social/news/2025/06/05/25962848.shtml|title=СМИ сообщили о взрыве на железнодорожных путях в Воронежской области - Газета.Ru | Новости|date=17 June 2025|website=Газета.Ru|accessdate=16 June 2025}}

On 6 June, a reserve diesel locomotive derailed as a result of an explosion in Prokhorovsky district of Belgorod Oblast. This was reported by regional governor Vyacheslav Gladkov.{{Cite web|url=https://www.gazeta.ru/social/news/2025/06/06/25971470.shtml|title=В Белгородской области тепловоз сошел с рельсов в результате подрыва путей - Газета.Ru | Новости|date=17 June 2025|website=Газета.Ru|accessdate=16 June 2025}}

Governor of Bryansk Oblast Alexander Bogomaz said: "Currently, there has been a traffic accident involving cars and a passenger railway train near a section of the A240 federal highway. Unfortunately, there are casualties. All emergency services, representatives of the authorities are working on the site."{{Cite web |title=Брянская Губерния {{!}} Александр Богомаз: в Выгоничском районе произошло обрушение моста |url=https://guberniya.tv/proisshestviya/307823 |access-date=1 June 2025 |website=guberniya.tv |language=ru-RU}}{{Cite news |date=1 June 2025 |title=Seven killed after bridge collapse, train derailment in Russia's Bryansk region bordering Ukraine |url=https://www.straitstimes.com/world/europe/bridge-collapses-in-russias-bryansk-region-that-borders-ukraine-governor-says |access-date=1 June 2025 |work=The Straits Times |language=en |issn=0585-3923}}

Governor of Kursk Oblast Alexander Khinshtein, said that one of the freight train's drivers sustained leg injuries. A photograph released by Khinshtein showed the derailed train jutting off the collapsed bridge.{{Cite news |last=Sands |first=Leo |date=1 June 2025 |title=Seven dead after two Russian bridges collapse in regions near Ukraine |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2025/06/01/russia-bridge-collapse-bryansk-kursk/ |access-date=2 June 2025 |newspaper=The Washington Post |language=en-US |issn=0190-8286}}

Russian military journalist Alexander Sladkov said that Ukraine would "expect Moscow to retaliate" amid ongoing peace talks in Istanbul during the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

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