For the second time in a short period of time, a freight train has derailed after an explosion in the Russian border area near Ukraine. In the Bryansk region, not far from the settlement of Belye Berega, a locomotive and around 20 wagons went off the rails on Tuesday evening "due to illegal interference with the work of railway transport," Russian Railways RZD said on Telegram. Already on Monday, a train derailed in the same region after unknown persons blew up the rails.
The governor of Bryansk, Alexander Bogomas, wrote of an "unknown explosive device" that exploded. According to initial findings, no one was injured. It was initially unclear who was behind the alleged sabotage.
A little later on Tuesday evening, Russian Telegram channels also said that in the Belgorod region, which also borders Ukraine, a drone had dropped an explosive device near a defense facility under construction. A man was injured. This was not officially confirmed at first. In the Russian region of Krasnodar, according to the governor of the region, a fuel storage facility also caught fire. "This is a fire of the highest difficulty," Governor Veniamin Kondratiev wrote on the Telegram messaging service. The region is located in southwestern Russia on the Sea of Azov opposite Ukraine.
Russia has been waging a war of aggression against neighboring Ukraine for more than 14 months. In recent weeks, there has been an increase in attacks by unknown perpetrators on Russian infrastructure and supply routes. Last weekend, for example, a fuel storage facility on the Black Sea peninsula of Crimea, annexed by Russia, caught fire as a result of a drone attack. Some observers suspect that this is a preparation for the Ukrainian counteroffensive, the start of which is expected soon.
Zelensky: Need to strengthen Euro-Atlantic security
Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called for the cohesion of Western states with a view to the upcoming NATO summit in July. "The most important thing that unites us is security for all Europeans, stability and therefore the further development and strengthening of the European and Euro-Atlantic community," Zelenskyy said in his evening video address.
Earlier, Zelensky had already made it clear that he expected the summit in Vilnius to clear the way for his country's admission to the Western military alliance. Kiev is receiving support for its demands in particular from Central and Eastern European states such as summit host Lithuania. According to diplomats, however, it is currently unlikely that NATO partners such as the USA can be persuaded to have a concrete accession perspective for Ukraine, which has been attacked by Russia.
In other respects, too, the Ukrainian leadership does not seem happy with the behavior of the US administration. According to Zelensky, he was not informed in advance by the United States about the explosive data leak with secret documents circulating on the Internet. This emerges from the excerpt of an interview of the "Washington Post" with the Ukrainian president, which the newspaper published on Tuesday on its website. "I have not been informed in advance from the White House or the Pentagon," Zelensky said. "We didn't have that information, and I personally didn't have it either." This is clearly a bad thing. The report of the "Washington Post" says that Zelensky learned about it from the news.
U.S. media had first reported on the leak shortly before Easter. For weeks, secret documents from US agencies on the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine had been circulating on the Internet – with information on arms deliveries, assessments of the war and also details of alleged US spying operations against partners. A 21-year-old member of the U.S. military is suspected of having published them in a closed chat room. From there, they continued to spread until the authorities and the media became aware of them. The man has to answer in court. The U.S. authorities continue to investigate.
In the interview, Zelensky called the revelations unfavorable to Kyiv, to the reputation of the White House and the United States. The Washington Post, citing papers from the data leak and its own sources, had reported that the US doubted the hoped-for success of Ukraine's planned spring offensive against the Russian aggressors.
EU Commission restricts Ukrainian agricultural imports
In the dispute over cheap grain from Ukraine, the EU Commission has restricted the import of four Ukrainian agricultural products after pressure from several EU states. Until June 5, wheat, corn, rapeseed and sunflower may no longer be freely traded in Bulgaria, Poland, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia, the EU Commission announced. However, it is still possible to bring the agricultural products through the affected countries to other EU states, for example. The background to the conflict is, among other things, that farmers in countries particularly affected by imports had complained about competition.
Due to the severely restricted export routes via the Black Sea due to the war, Ukraine is currently far more dependent on bringing goods to the world market by train, truck or ship.