A second train derailment in two days is reported in a Russian border area.


Local authorities reported on Tuesday that an explosion derailed a freight train in the Russian region of Bryansk, on the border with Ukraine, the second such incident there in two days.

The regional governor, Aleksandr V. Bogomaz, said in a post on the Telegram messaging app that an explosive device had gone off near the railway station at Snezhetskaya, a town about 60 miles from the Ukraine border, but had not caused any deaths or injuries.

A locomotive and about 20 train cars went off the rails, according to a statement from Russian Railways, the train’s operator, which said that a firefighting train had been dispatched to the scene. However, the first videos of the derailed train published online did not show any flames. It was not immediately clear what the train was carrying.

In addition, a village in Bryansk that lies less than five miles from the border with Ukraine was shelled on Tuesday morning, igniting a fire but causing no casualties, Mr. Bogomaz said. He blamed Ukraine’s military for that attack, but offered no evidence. The claim could not be independently verified.

The governor did not cast specific blame for the two train derailments. Nor did Ukraine claim the blasts, although Kyiv generally maintains a policy of strategic ambiguity about strikes on Russian territory.

The earlier derailment came on Monday, as a freight train from Belarus was transiting the Bryansk region near the town of Unecha, roughly 60 miles east of the Ukrainian border. After an explosive device detonated, eight of the train’s 78 cars jumped the track and ignited, blocking traffic on the line. Rybar, an influential pro-war Russian military blog, posted a video on Telegram of the burning cars, and said that they had been carrying oil products and lumber.

By Tuesday morning, rail service on the line had been restored, Russian Railways said on Telegram. About 100 meters of railroad tracks, or about 330 feet, had to be replaced, the company said.

The explosions were the latest in a series of attacks to hit the region. On Sunday, Mr. Bogomaz said that four people in the region were killed by Ukrainian shelling from across the border.

Russia has used territories close to Ukraine — including the Bryansk region, along Ukraine’s northern border — to stage assaults, fire rockets, launch air assaults and mount other attacks throughout the 14-month-old war. The Ukrainian government has expressed growing concern that Moscow is using the Bryansk region to launch drone assaults.



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