An explosive device caused today Monday the derailment of a freight train in a Russian region near Ukraine, but without causing any casualties, according to a local official, amid fears of Ukrainian attacks and sabotage operations in Russia. According to the information so far from a witness the saboteur was a man dressed in black, about 40 years old, about 1.70 tall. He had a black backpack with him and was riding a bicycle. The train has been destroyed.

“An unknown explosive device detonated causing a freight train to derail. There are no casualties,” Alexander Bogomaz, the governor of the Bryansk region that borders Ukraine, announced via the Telegram app.

According to this source, the incident occurred on a railway line between his city Bryansk and the city of Unetsa. “Rescue services are on the scene. The traffic on this part of the railway line has been suspended,” added Boghomas. According to the data announced by the governor, the derailment point is about 60 kilometers north of the border with Ukraine.

In a separate statement, state-owned Russian Railways explained that the train’s engine caught fire after it derailed. “Fire units are on site,” the company said.

The company also reports that, in addition to the train engine, seven carriages have derailed. However, for now, it does not speak of the presence of explosives, but states that the episode was provoked “from the intervention of external persons”.

Photos posted on social media showed tank cars overturned and dark gray smoke billowing into the sky at the site of the derailment.

Russia has already faced acts of sabotage on military bases, army recruitment centers or even railway lines since the beginning of the attack against Ukraine on February 24, 2022.

But it is the first time since then that such a spectacular derailment has been publicly announced.

Today a high-voltage line was also damaged by an explosive device in the Leningrad region (northwest Russia), the local governor announced, underlining that an investigation into “sabotage” had begun.

As early as April, the head of Russia’s security services (FSB) Alexander Bortnikov has accused Ukraine and the West of trying to incite Russians to carry out sabotage and armed rebellion.