A key Russian railway bridge destroyed in Belgorod near the border with Ukraine | Ukraine

A key Russian railway bridge has been damaged in the border region with Ukraine in a potential act of sabotage – as Russia relies on its railways to move its attack forces in preparation for a massive assault on the east of Ukraine.

Photographs of the bridge in Russia’s Belgorod region showed a section of rail had been forced upwards, possibly due to an explosion. The photographs, along with news of the incident, were first published Tuesday by the local Russian governor and local media.

“There are no casualties,” Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov wrote in an online statement. “Only the railway line is destroyed… I will inform you of the reasons later.”

The incident comes as Russia has begun to militarize its border regions near Ukraine by issuing threat alerts, erecting military checkpoints and mobilizing local townspeople, a sign that Russia’s war effort Russia moves east from Ukraine.

Ukraine has not confirmed whether it supports the attack on the railroad bridge, which commentators say would make sense as a cross-border raid meant to slow Russia’s movement of heavy artillery and other vehicles troops needed to prepare for an assault in Ukraine’s Donbass region.

Russia relies heavily on rail to move its military equipment. The bridge is just four miles from the border on a railway line that runs south into Ukraine and is on a supply line between Russia and territory it holds near the town of Izyum near the Donbass.

Ukrainian intelligence services have warned that Russia may be preparing “false flag” attacks that could warrant a new offensive in the coming weeks.

Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday that the war would continue “until its complete completion and we will achieve our goals”, accusing the West of forcing Russia to attack Ukraine. He also denied evidence that Russian soldiers committed war crimes in the Ukrainian town of Bucha.

Ukrainian officials have said that Russia may seek to incite public opinion to support the war by staging attacks that could then be blamed on Ukraine.

“Russian intelligence is planning a series of terrorist attacks with bombings and compromising residential buildings, hospitals and schools in Russian settlements,” Major General Kyrylo Budanov, Ukraine’s military intelligence chief, said in a statement. communicated.

He added that Belgorod, as well as cities in Crimea, could be among the targeted towns. “Trenches are being actively dug in the Belgorod and Kursk regions, there is panic about an imaginary attack by Ukrainian volunteer battalions and diversionary groups,” he said.

Russia previously claimed that Ukraine targeted a fuel depot in a helicopter raid earlier this month. Ukraine has denied any responsibility for the attack, with a senior official saying that “everything that happens on Russian territory is Russia’s responsibility”.

As Russia moves its military east, there are signs the military is increasing controls in its border regions.

Six Russian regions on the border with Ukraine raised their terror threat level on Monday, citing fears of “provocations”. Photographs showed that new vehicle checkpoints had been erected in the Kursk and Belgorod regions, with police arresting drivers and carrying out car searches.

In Belgorod, a Russian town just 29 kilometers from the border, the mayor called on residents on Tuesday to join neighborhood watch groups. “Duties … include patrolling the streets in the evening and at night, as well as assisting police in maintaining law and order,” the order said, according to state media.

The Belgorod region has also banned the use of firecrackers and fireworks “so as not to scare people with unnecessary loud sounds”, according to reports.

Russian railways seem particularly vulnerable during construction.

The so-called “railway rebels” in Belarus carried out more than a dozen acts of sabotage in the first weeks of the war, with the aim of disrupting supply trains traveling from Belarus to the units Russians stationed in northern Ukraine.

Attacks on relay switches and other infrastructure had briefly shut down major roads, including the line from Minsk to the besieged Ukrainian city of Chernihiv.

In January, Belarusian cyber-supporters opposed to Alexander Lukashenko told the Guardian they had hacked into the country’s rail system in a bid to disrupt a Russian military buildup that preceded his invasion of Ukraine.