Latest news with #Bryansk
Al Arabiya
3 hours ago
- General
- Al Arabiya
Russia accuses Ukraine to be behind rail blasts that killed seven
Russia on Tuesday said Ukraine was behind rail blasts in its western border regions that derailed a passenger train, killing seven people and wounding dozens more at the weekend. The deadly explosion in Russia's Bryansk region that borders Ukraine caused a road bridge to collapse onto a railway line late Saturday and derail a passenger train, the authorities said. For the latest updates on the Russia-Ukraine war, visit our dedicated page. 'The terrorists, acting on the orders of the Kyiv regime, planned everything with maximum precision so that hundreds of innocent civilians would come under their attacks,' Russia's Investigative Committee said in a statement posted on Telegram. Moscow had previously said the blasts were an act of 'terrorism' though had not directly pointed the finger at Kyiv. Investigators said they had retrieved pieces of explosive devices from the accident site and have gathered testimonies of eyewitnesses and the wounded. A separate rail bridge in the neighboring Kursk region was blown up hours later in the early hours of Sunday, derailing a freight train and injuring the driver. When asked earlier on Tuesday, the Kremlin declined to offer more details on the bridge blasts, pointing to the ongoing investigation. Russia's has been hit by dozens of sabotage attacks since Moscow launched its military offensive on its neighbor in 2022, many targeting its vast railroad network. Kyiv says Russia uses railroads to transport troops and weaponry to its forces fighting in Ukraine.
Sky News
20 hours ago
- General
- Sky News
Russians react to Ukraine's unprecedented drone attack - as Kremlin's silence speaks volumes
Ukraine's drone attack on Russia's long-range bombers was unprecedented, not that you'd know it from reading the Russian papers. Nor from watching the news bulletins here. Monday's front pages were dominated by photos of the wreckage of a road bridge collapsing on to a passenger train in the Bryansk region, after it was blown up late on Saturday night. 0:39 Meanwhile, the flagship talk show on state TV here on Monday morning didn't even mention the attack. Instead, there was just a breathless build-up to the latest round of peace talks in Istanbul. The lack of visual coverage of the drone attack is partly because of the sensitivities around publishing images of Russian military infrastructure. But I think it's also because the Kremlin wants to play down the assault, which was a hugely embarrassing breach of Russia's defences. So where the attack is mentioned in the papers, it's done in a way to reinforce Moscow's narrative - that Ukraine is the aggressor out to derail the peace process. 0:46 The Izvestia newspaper, for example, describes it as a terrorist attack, and says it "calls into question Kyiv's readiness for de-escalation". There's no reference to the scale of the damage, and there's certainly no sense of alarm. It's a similar vibe on the streets of Moscow, where we meet Irina. She believes the reports of the attack are "exaggerated". "These planes are very old and hardly anyone needs them," she says. Another passer-by, called Vladimir, says he trusts his namesake Mr Putin to respond when the time is right. "This must be done systematically, confidently, and without any kind of nervous breakdowns, or any shows of soul," he says. There is plenty of soul on show on social media, though, where Russia's influential military bloggers are calling for a rapid retaliation. One popular channel, called Dva Mayora or "Two Majors", even said it was "a reason to launch nuclear strikes on Ukraine". Others are directing their anger at Russia's military command, accusing the leadership of complacency for storing the planes out in the open. It all served to overshadow the latest round of peace talks in Istanbul, where the only concrete outcome was another prisoner exchange and the return of 6,000 dead soldiers from each side. And if anything, the outlook for peace now is even more bleak than it was before the talks began. That's because Russia has now presented its blueprint for a settlement, and it seemingly offers no sign of compromise at all. According to Russian media reports, the document is a list of Moscow's maximalist demands, including neutrality for Ukraine, limits to its army, surrender of territory and the lifting of sanctions. Only then, Russia says, would it agree to end the war. The Kremlin itself still hasn't commented on the drone attack - a silence that speaks volumes. Can you imagine Downing Street doing the same if something similar happened in the UK? There will undoubtedly be repercussions at some point, both externally and internally. So, despite the talk being of peace at the talks in Turkey, the mood is still very much one of war.
Russia Today
a day ago
- Business
- Russia Today
Truce or trap? Ukraine makes sure peace talks go nowhere
On Sunday, in the Russian regions of Bryansk and Kursk, both bordering Ukraine, bridges collapsed on and under trains, killing seven and injuring dozens of civilians. These, however, were no accidents and no extraordinary force of nature was involved either. Instead, it is certain that these catastrophes were acts of sabotage, which is also how Russian authorities are classifying them. Since it is virtually certain that the perpetrators acted on behalf of Kiev, Western media have hardly reported these attacks. Moscow meanwhile rightly considers these attacks terrorism. On the same day, Ukraine also carried out a wave of drone attacks on important Russian military airfields. That story, trumpeted as a great success by Ukraine's SBU intelligence service, has been touted in the West. The usual diehard Western bellicists, long starved of good news, have pounced on Ukraine's probably exaggerated account of these assaults to fantasize once more about how Ukraine has 'genius,' while Russia is 'vulnerable' and really almost defeated. Despair makes imaginative. In the wrong way. The reality of Ukraine's drone strikes on the airfields is not entirely clear yet. What is certain is that Ukraine targeted locations in five regions, including in northern and central Russia as well as Siberia and the Far East. Kiev's drone swarms were launched not from Ukraine but from inside Russia, using subterfuge and civilian trucks. Under International Humanitarian War (aka the Law of Armed Conflict), this is likely to constitute not a legitimate 'ruse of war' but the war crime of perfidy, a rather obvious point somehow never mentioned in Western commentary. Yet at least, in this instance the targets were military: This was either an act of special-ops sabotage involving a war crime (the most generous possible reading) or plain terrorism or both, depending on your point of view. Three of the attacked airbases, it seems, successfully fended off the Ukrainian first-person-view kamikaze drones. In two locations, enough drones got through to cause what appears to be substantial damage. Ukrainian officials and, therefore, Western mainstream media claim that more than 40 Russian aircraft were destroyed, including large strategic bombers and an early-warning-and-control aircraft. Official Russian sources have admitted losses but not detailed them. Russian military bloggers, often well-informed, have quoted much lower figures ('in the single digits,' thirteen), while noting that even they still constitute a 'tragic loss,' especially as Russia does not make these types of aircraft anymore. In financial terms, Ukrainian officials claim that they have inflicted the equivalent of 'at least 2 billion' dollars in damage. Even if it should turn out that they have been less effective than that, there can be little doubt that, on this occasion, Kiev has achieved a lot of bang for the buck: even if 'Operation Spiderweb' took a long time to prepare and involved various resources, including a warehouse, trucks, and the cheap drones themselves, it is certain that Kiev's expenses must have been much less than Moscow's losses. In political terms, Russia's vibrant social media-based sphere of military-political commentators has revealed a sense of appalled shock and anger, and not only at Kiev but also at Russian officials and officers accused of still not taking seriously the threat of Ukrainian strikes even deep inside Russia. One important Telegram 'mil-blogger' let his readers know that he would welcome dismissals among the air force command. But he also felt that the weak spots exploited by Kiev's sneak drone attack have systemic reasons. Another very popular mil-blogger has written of 'criminal negligence.' Whatever the eventual Russian political fall-out of these Ukrainian attacks, beware Western commentators' incorrigible tendency to overestimate it. German newspaper Welt, for instance, is hyperventilating about the attack's 'monumental significance.' In reality, with all the frustration inside Russia, this incident will not shake the government or even dent its ability to wage the war. Probably, its real net effect will be to support the mobilization of Russia. Remember that Wagner revolt that saw exactly the same Western commentators predicting the imminent implosion not merely of the Russian government but the whole country? You don't? Exactly. In the case of the terrorist attacks on civilian trains, the consequences are even easier to predict. They will definitely only harden Moscow's resolve and that of almost all Russians, elite and 'ordinary.' With both types of attacks, on the military airfields and on the civilian trains, the same puzzling question arises: What is Kiev even trying to do here? At this point, we can only speculate. My guess: Kiev's rather desperate regime was after four things: First, a propaganda success for domestic consumption. Given that Zelensky's Ukraine is a de facto authoritarian state with obedient media, this may actually work, for a moment. Until, that is, the tragedy of mobilization, all too often forced, for a losing proxy war on behalf of a fairly demented West, sinks in again, that is, in a day or so. Second, with its combination of atrocities against civilians and an assault on Russia's nuclear defenses, this was Kiev's umpteenth attempt to provoke Russia into a response so harsh that it would escalate the war to a direct clash between NATO (now probably minus the US) and Russia. This is a Ukrainian tactic as old as this war, if not older. Call it the attack's routine aspect. Equally routinely, that plan went nowhere. Then there was the attempt to torpedo the second round of the revived Istanbul talks, scheduled for Monday, 2 June, by provoking Russia to cancel or launch such a rapid and fierce retaliation strike that Kiev could have used it as a pretext to do the same. That is, as it were, the tactical dimension, and it also failed. While the above is devious, it is also run-of-the-mill. States will be states, sigh. The fourth likely purpose of Kiev's wave of sabotage and terror strikes – the strategic aspect, as it were – however, is much more disturbing: The Zelensky regime – and at least some of its Western backers (my guess: Britain in the lead) – are signaling that they are ready to wage a prolonged campaign of escalating terrorist attacks inside Russia, even if the fighting in Ukraine should end. Think of the Chechen Wars, but much worse again. This, too, would not succeed. One lesson of the Chechen Wars is precisely that Moscow has made up its mind not to bend to terrorism but instead eliminate its source, whatever the cost. Regarding those Istanbul talks, they have taken place. Ukraine was not able to make Russia abandon them. Otherwise, the results of this second round of the second attempt at peace in Istanbul seem to have been very modest, as many observers predicted. Kiev, while losing, did its usual grimly comedic thing and offered Moscow a chance to surrender. Moscow handed over its terms in turn; and they have not changed and reflect that it is winning the war. Kiev has promised to study them. Given that the gap between Ukrainian delusions and Russian demands seems unbridgeable at this point, even a large-scale ceasefire is out of reach. And that may be, after all, what both the Zelensky regime and its European backers want. As to Moscow, it has long made clear that it will fight until it reaches its war aims. In that sense, the new talks confirmed what the attacks had signaled already: peace is not in sight. Russia's chief negotiator Vladimir Medinsky did, however, offer smaller, local ceasefires of 'two to three days' that, he explained, would serve to retrieve the bodies of the fallen for decent burial. In the same spirit, Russia has committed to hand over 6,000 bodies of Ukrainian soldiers and officers. There was something for the living as well: more prisoner exchanges, for those severely ill or injured as well as for the young, have been agreed. Figures are not clear yet, but the fact that they will take place on an 'all-for-all' basis reflects a Russian gesture of good will. Finally, Medinsky also revealed that the Ukrainian side handed over a list of 339 children that Russia has evacuated from the war zone. He promised that, as in previous cases, Russian officials will trace them and do their best to return the children to Ukraine. Medinsky pointed out that the number of children on Kiev's list massively contradicts Ukrainian and Western stories – as well as lawfare – about an immense, 'genocidal' Russian kidnapping operation. In that sense, the talks at least helped to deflate an old piece of Western information war. Perhaps that is all that is possible for now: truly incremental humanitarian progress and a very gradual, very slow working toward a more reasonable manner of talking to each other. Better than nothing. But that's a low bar, admittedly.
Russia Today
a day ago
- General
- Russia Today
Ukraine ‘a terrorist state'
A senior Russian lawmaker has accused Ukrainian intelligence services of orchestrating an explosion that damaged a bridge in Russia's Bryansk region, describing the incident as an act of terrorism aimed at intimidating civilians and provoking Moscow ahead of potential talks. On Saturday evening, as a result of an explosion, a bridge fell in front of a moving passenger train moving at high speed, derailing it. The crash killed seven people and injured 97 others. Several hours later, a railway bridge collapsed under a moving freight train in Kursk Region, wounding the driver and two of his assistants. 'This is clearly the work of Ukrainian special services. Everything points to Ukraine being a terrorist state,' Andrey Kartapolov, head of the Russian State Duma's defense committee, told Russian news outlet SHOT, on Sunday. Kartapolov said the blasts had no military significance but were designed to 'harden' Russia's stance and spread fear among the population. He added that Russian security services would investigate the incident and determine the circumstances. 'All of this is aimed at escalating Russia's position and provoking aggression before negotiations, as well as to intimidate people. But it won't work,' he said. The Investigative Committee said in a statement on Sunday that the bridges had been 'blown up' in both incidents. Later that same day, drones targeted military airfields in Murmansk Region in the country's north, in Ivanovo and Ryazan regions in western Russia, and in Irkutsk Region in Siberia and Amur Region in the Far East. Ukraine's Vladimir Zelensky touted the 'absolutely brilliant result' saying that the strikes had been prepared for more a year and a half and targeted Russia's strategic aviation fleet. 'In total, 117 drones were used in the operation,' he said in a video message posted on X. Drones were reportedly smuggled into Russia and launched remotely off the back of trucks. In response to Kiev's raids, Russia has launched several retaliatory strikes targeting Ukraine's defense industry facilities, as well as military assembly points and warehouses. While Kiev has not officially claimed responsibility for the collapses of two bridges that caused train derailments in Russia, Ukrainian opposition MP Artyom Dmitruk said the incidents were 'another step toward peace according to Zelensky's formula,' referring to his proposed peace plan. 'Let me remind you, negotiations are scheduled for June 2,' the lawmaker added. The second round of Russia-Ukraine peace talks begins in Istanbul, Türkiye, on Monday. The two countries held their first direct negotiations in three years in May, where they agreed to submit detailed ceasefire proposals.
NHK
a day ago
- General
- NHK
Russia, Ukraine to hold second round of talks on Monday in Istanbul
Russia and Ukraine are expected to hold a second round of direct talks in Istanbul on Monday to discuss memorandums on peace after both sides carried out major drone attacks. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a social media post on Sunday that he is sending a delegation headed by Defence Minister Rustem Umerov. The minister led the Ukrainian delegation in the direct talks in Istanbul in May, the first in more than three years. Kyiv had not previously made clear that it would agree to further talks. It had criticized Russia, saying Moscow did not present its peace memorandum before the meeting. The Ukrainian delegates are expected to call for a full and unconditional ceasefire and for summit-level talks toward realizing a lasting peace. The Russian foreign ministry announced on Sunday that Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov had talked by phone with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio. The ministry said they exchanged views on the talks expected to be held in Turkey on Monday. The ministry also said Rubio expressed condolences over the deaths of civilians in bridge collapses that caused train derailments in the Bryansk and Kursk regions of western Russia. Lavrov reportedly responded that the relevant authorities are conducting thorough investigations. He also reportedly said the results will be announced within a few days and the perpetrators will be identified and punished. The US State Department also announced on Sunday that Secretary Rubio spoke with Lavrov at Russia's request. A spokesperson said Rubio reiterated President Donald Trump's call for continued direct talks between Russia and Ukraine to achieve a lasting peace.
