Bridge blasts in Russia on eve of peace talks with Ukraine

AT LEAST seven people were killed and 69 injured when two bridges were blown up in separate Russian regions bordering Ukraine before planned peace talks aimed at ending the three-year-old war in Ukraine, Russian officials said yesterday.

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A highway bridge over a railway in the Bryansk region was blown up at 10.50pm on Saturday night just as a passenger train carrying 388 passengers to Moscow was passing underneath, Russian investigators said.

Four hours later, a railway bridge over a highway was blown up in the neighbouring Kursk region showering the road with parts of a freight train, the investigators said.

Russia's Investigative Committee, which probes serious crimes, linked the incidents and said that both bridges were blown up.

In the Bryansk region, social media pictures and videos showed passengers trying to climb out of smashed carriages in the dark. Part of the passenger train was shown crushed under a collapsed road bridge and wrecked carriages lay beside the lines.