Russian bridge 'blown up with homemade bomb planted by saboteurs'

The damage on the bridge over the Chapaevka River (Picture: Nexta)

Saboteurs blew up a key bridge in Russia, disrupting one of Vladimir Putin’s routes to transport military cargo.

An explosion – caused by a homemade explosive device – rocked the bridge over the Chapaevka River, near the city of Samara, on the border with Kazakhstan, just after 6am local time.

Located on the Volga river in the southwest,the region is a heavy industry hubs.

It is understood that the bridge was used to transport military cargo, in particular engineering ammunition produced by the Polymer JSC plant.

A picture circulating on Russian pro-war Telegram channels shows the bridge’s metal structures had been damaged.

Ukraine came short of claiming responsibility for the attack, saying that traffic has now been ‘paralysed’.

A statement from Defence Intelligence of Ukraine (GUR) read: ‘The railway bridge was blown up in Russia. Train traffic is paralysed.

‘The power steering confirms that the railway bridge across the Chapaevka River in the Samara region was disabled.

‘The structures were damaged as a result of the explosion.’

Train traffic on the bridge has been suspended, with four trains currently being hit with delays.

No casualties have been reported, but traffic over the bridge has been suspended, the Russian Railways said, describing the incident as ‘illegal interference’.

Russia has reported a series of attacks on its industrial and logistics infrastructure in recent months – all blamed on Ukraine.

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