An explosion derailed a freight train in the Russian city of Bryansk, around 40 miles from the border with Ukraine.

Footage from May 1 shows several carriages lying on their side with smoke emerging from the damaged train.

Russian Railways, the country’s rail operator, said the locomotive and seven freight wagons were derailed.

Bryansk Governor Alexander Bogomaz said online: "An unidentified explosive device went off at the 136-kilometre mark on the Bryansk-Unecha railway line, derailing a freight train."

Russian authorities have not said who they believe is responsible for the incident.

A freight train in the western region of Bryansk in Russia derailed on Monday, the 1st of May, 2023 after an "explosive device" detonated on the rail tracks, according to local governor Alexander Bogomaz. The incident occurred just one day after a Ukrainian strike killed four people in a Russian village in the Bryansk region, and as Kyiv prepared for a widely expected counter-offensive.

Bogomaz confirmed that there were no casualties, but the device went off "on the 136th kilometer" of the railroad between regional hub Bryansk and the town of Unecha, towards the border with Ukraine. Russian Railways stated that the front locomotive and seven wagons derailed "after the intervention of unauthorized persons." The company also said that the fire had been put out by 12.30 pm local time and that passengers of two Moscow-bound trains in the area would be taken by bus to the regional capital Bryansk.

Footage on social media showed the front of the train and several cargo carriages on fire and lying on the grass next to the tracks. There have been reports of sabotage acts on railroads in Russia and its ally Belarus throughout Moscow's more than year-long Ukraine offensive.