The agency did not claim responsibility or attribute the explosion to anyone, though Ukraine has in the past claimed a series of attacks deep into Russia.

Sabotage?

Russian politicians lined up to blame Ukraine, saying it was clearly sabotage aimed at derailing the peace talks which the United States has demanded.

“This is definitely the work of the Ukrainian special services,” the chairman of the defense committee of the lower house of the Russian parliament, Andrei Kartapolov, told the SHOT Telegram channel.

“All this is aimed at toughening the position of the Russian Federation and stoking aggression before the negotiations. And also to intimidate people. But they won’t succeed.”

President Vladimir Putin was briefed on the bridge blasts by the Federal Security Service (FSB) and the Emergency Ministry throughout the night, the Kremlin said. Putin also spoke to the governor of Bryansk, Alexander Bogomaz.

U.S. President Donald Trump has demanded the sides make peace, and he has threatened to walk away if they do not – potentially pushing responsibility for supporting Ukraine onto the shoulders of European powers.

But as politicians talk of peace negotiations, the war is heating up, with swarms of drones launched by both Russia and Ukraine and Russian troops advancing at key points along the front in eastern Ukraine.

Ukraine has not committed to attending the talks in Turkey, saying it first needed to see Russia’s proposals, while a leading U.S. senator warned Moscow it would be “hit hard” by new U.S. sanctions.