In the Bryansk region, an attack on the railway disrupted a freight train when a line was blown up, causing a derailment. Initial reports emerged from RBC and the Telegram channel 112 on the evening of May 2, and later confirmations came from Russian Railways and regional authorities.
According to the official statement, at 19:47 on the single-track, non-electrical stretch between Snezhetskaya and Belye Berega in Bryansk, a locomotive and about 20 wagons derailed due to unlawful interference with rail operations, as stated by the Railways press service. There were no immediate reports of injuries, and no active burning was observed at the site as emergency crews were deployed. To manage the incident, a firefighter and two rescue trains were dispatched to the affected segment.
Traffic along the Snezhetskaya to Belye Berega section has been halted. An operations center within Russian Railways has been established to coordinate efforts to restore service and address the consequences of the derailment. In a Telegram channel briefing, the Bryansk regional governor, Alexander Bogomaz, indicated that the incident took place near the Snezhetskaya railway station, where an unidentified explosive device detonated.
Subsequent updates from local authorities noted that the district head visited the accident site. Measures were announced to reroute passenger traffic: buses will operate from Bryansk I station to White Shores, and a suburban train will shuttle passengers from Belyye Berega to Orel. From Orel, passengers will continue to White Shores and then return to Bryansk I. Officials stated that passenger transport arrangements would continue in this pattern until normal service resumed in both directions.
The Moscow Interregional Transport Prosecutor’s Office opened an inquiry into the derailment resulting from the railway line’s explosion. The transport prosecutor Konstantin Tolmachev was cited as coordinating the work of investigators, operational agencies, and emergency services at the scene. The ministry’s press service provided the update.
Information from Baza suggested that the derailed train consisted of roughly 70 wagons, from which sulfur and saltpeter were reportedly spilling. Emergency responders were actively cooling the derailed units and addressing spills. Additional reports indicated that three separate explosions could have triggered the incident.
According to SHOT, sources connected yesterday’s events on the Bryansk-Uncha line and today’s sabotage near 111 km may have involved the same actors. The scenes of the incidents were reported to coincide around the 136 km mark of the Bryansk-Unecha route, with a suspected link between the two betrayals of the track, though details varied across outlets. Attribution to specific groups remained under investigation by authorities.
Meanwhile, Mash reported that different sabotage groups could have been responsible for the two events. The initial explosion near Unecha-Rassukha on May 1 involved a small team of three to five individuals who may have participated in an apparent thwarted terror attempt in the Krasny Rog-Pochep corridor. Security sources noted that the DRG fled the area shortly before the blast occurred. In the aftermath, an improvised explosive device exploded earlier in the morning in the Unechsky district, damaging a Belarus-made freight train loaded with timber and petroleum products. Eight wagons derailed, a locomotive and two fuel tanks caught fire, but no injuries were reported among railway staff or passengers. Bus transport was arranged to move people from Bryansk’s stations to key destinations while work continued to restore service.