BRYANSK OBLAST, Russia — Two bridge collapses in Russian regions bordering Ukraine on May 31, 2025 killed at least seven people and injured dozens more, after a road bridge fell onto a passenger train in Bryansk and another collapse derailed a locomotive in Kursk.
The first incident happened in the Bryansk region, where a road bridge came down on a moving passenger train travelling from Klimovo to Moscow. Authorities said the falling structure brought several heavy trucks onto the train and left at least seven people dead and at least 71 injured. The train was in the Vygonichsky district when the bridge collapsed, about 100 kilometers from the border with Ukraine, and the wreckage scattered passengers and vehicles across the night scene.
Hours later, another bridge collapsed in the Zheleznogorsk district of Kursk, derailing a locomotive train and causing a fire. Acting regional governor Alexander Khinshtein said the driver suffered injuries to his legs. Moscow Railway said passengers were evacuated and taken to a nearby station, where they were told they would continue their journey on a specially formed reserve train. The sequence of events turned what might have been a local infrastructure disaster into a wider transport emergency across two regions.
Russian authorities said both collapses were being probed as acts of terrorism. Moscow Railway alleged on Telegram that the Bryansk bridge came down because of illegal interference. A Ukrainian national security official, meanwhile, called the incidents Russian false-flag operations designed to manipulate international opinion ahead of planned peace talks in Turkey. Those competing claims remained untested in the evidence packet, and the cause of either collapse had not been established publicly.
The overnight timing increased the danger for passengers and rescue teams alike. Russian news agency TASS said additional emergency workers, rescue equipment and light towers were sent to the scene so work could continue in the dark. Pictures circulating online showed damaged carriages and passengers helping one another climb through the wreckage. Russian President Vladimir Putin was briefed throughout the night, the Kremlin said, indicating how quickly the events escalated into a national security issue.
The wider significance lies in how transport infrastructure can become part of a broader political and military confrontation. The evidence does not prove who caused either collapse, but it does show that both incidents were interpreted immediately through the lens of sabotage and the war near Ukraine. For passengers, the first fact is simpler and more brutal: a bridge fell, a train was hit, and a journey that should have continued to Moscow ended with death, injury and a night of emergency work.
The investigation will now have to determine whether the Bryansk bridge collapse and the Kursk derailment were linked, whether explosives or structural failures were involved, and who would benefit from disrupting rail traffic so close to the Ukrainian border. Until that is known, officials are left with the same unsettled picture the public saw overnight: mangled carriages, injured passengers and two broken bridges in two regions within hours of each other.
