Seven people were killed and almost seventy were injured when a bridge collapsed in rails in southwestern Russia, resulting in a train derailment on Saturday night, not far from the border with Ukraine, Russian authorities said.

A Russian railway operation referred to a “illegal” action that caused the disaster.

Officially, the Russian authorities have made no connection to the war in Ukraine as this stage; Kiev has not commented on the disaster so far.

However, channels in the Telegram associated with Russian intelligence and security services have spoken of Ukrainian sabotage.

“Due to the collapse of a bridge on rails, unfortunately we have seven deaths,” the regional governor Alexander Bogomaz informed via Telegram, having initially referred to three dead.

Nearly half an hour after five in the morning (local time and time in Greece), he spoke of “66 injured, including three children”, adding that of them, “three victims are in serious condition, including a child” and that “44 people have been admitted to hospitals”.

The derailed train driver is among the dead, RIA and TASS news agencies reported earlier.

The derailment of the train no. 86, operating from Climov, in the Bielgorod Region (southwest) to Moscow, at 22:44, at the level of the Pilcino-Vigoni area, the Moscow railways said via Telegram.

According to the National Railway Company, the collapse of the bridge was due to “illegal intervention”. The circulation of other trains has not been affected, the same source added.

According to the Baza channel in Telegram, which is generally considered to have sources in – if not – Russian intelligence and security services, the first data of the research shows that the bridge was blown up.

In videos uploaded to social networking sites, rescue on -site workshops and a large volume of debris around the one that seems to be the derailed train.

Bielgorod and Bryansk regions are adjacent to Ukraine. The point where the disaster took place is about one hundred kilometers from the border of the two countries, war since February 2022.

There have been cases of sabotage targeting trains in areas near the border.

In early April, justice in the Volgrad Region (southwest), which does not adjoin Ukraine but is relatively close, announced the conviction of a 23 -year -old to serve 14 years in prison after being found guilty of rail infrastructure arson. According to justice, he confessed his act, which was described as an action in favor of Ukraine.

In the neighboring Sarataf region (southwest), two 24 -year -olds were convicted of serving 14 and 12 years in prison for a similar case.

Most actions of this kind are attributed to young people – sometimes minors.

Ukraine generally does not comment on sabotage businesses in Russian territory. In some cases, however, he has expressed satisfaction, considering that these are legitimate acts of retaliation on Russian attacks on his own rail network – infrastructure of crucial importance in this war.

Russia’s air raid on Kyiv

Meanwhile, Ukrainian anti -aircraft defense units have tried to repel air raid launched by Russia’s armed forces in the capital of the country, Kiev, the mayor of the city, Vitali Klitzko, announced in the early hours.