Terrorist Attacks in Bryansk and Kursk Regions: Investigative Committee Reports

In a series of violent incidents on the night of May 31 to June 1, 2025, the Bryansk and Kursk regions of Russia were rocked by three terrorist attacks that resulted in significant loss of life and widespread injuries. The Investigative Committee (IC) has classified these bombings as terrorist acts, claiming responsibility lies with Ukrainian special services. The attacks resulted in the deaths of seven individuals, including a train driver, and left 122 others injured, among them children.

During a meeting with President Vladimir Putin on June 4, IC Chairman Alexander Bastrykin detailed the incidents, asserting that the attacks employed foreign explosives and were orchestrated with the assistance of Ukrainian control units. The estimated damage from the attacks has surpassed one billion rubles.

The first attack occurred on May 31 in the Bryansk region, where a passenger train traveling from Klimov to Moscow was derailed when a road bridge collapsed. The train, carrying 388 passengers, suffered catastrophic damage as the debris crushed the locomotive and four carriages, resulting in seven fatalities and 118 injuries, including an eight-month-old child in critical condition.

Shortly thereafter, a second explosion took place in the Kursk region on the Trosna-Kalinovka highway in the Zheleznogorsk district, where a railway bridge collapsed while a freight train was crossing. The explosion caused part of the train to collapse, injuring the driver and two assistants. A third explosion in Bryansk damaged five meters of railway track but fortunately did not result in any injuries.

Bastrykin indicated that the explosive devices used in these attacks were equivalent to approximately 15 kilograms of TNT and contained foreign-manufactured plastic explosives, specifically C-4 believed to be of American origin. Additionally, two failed devices were discovered on the Unecha-Zhecha railway section. In a related operation between May 20 and 25, Russian security forces neutralized a Ukrainian sabotage and reconnaissance group in the area of Mikishevo, seizing 13 kilograms of plastic explosives and similar control devices.