FACT CHECK: Does This Image Show A Destroyed Bridge In Kursk, Russia?

An image shared on Facebook purportedly shows a railway bridge that was destroyed in the Kursk region of Russia, near the Ukrainian border.

Verdict: Misleading

While the image does show a destroyed Russian bridge, the photo was taken in 2020 and is from Murmansk, a Russian city that is more than a thousand miles away from Ukraine.

Fact Check: 

A bridge in Russia’s Kursk region, near the country’s border with Ukraine, partially collapsed May 1, according to Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL). While the cause of the collapse is still under investigation, there are reports it was the result of sabotage, MarketWatch reported.

An image shared on Facebook claims to show the bridge in question collapsed and partially submerged in water. “Oh no! A railway bridge in #Kursk region has collapsed,” reads the image’s caption. “And so close to #Ukrainian border…What an unfortunate accident.”

The bridge pictured, however, is not the bridge that collapsed in Kursk. A reverse image search revealed the image was taken in the Russian city of Murmansk in 2020 and can be found in an article published that year by Russian media outlet Lenta.ru. The Russian Emergency Situations Ministry stated in June 2020 that the bridge collapse in Murmansk was due to rapid snowmelt and “high water content” and that nobody was injured in the incident.

Murmansk is also over 2,000 kilometers away from Kursk and does not border Ukraine, according to Google Maps. (RELATED: Does This Video Show A Train Carrying Russian Military Vehicles Being Derailed Near Ukraine?)

A number of sites in Russia near the Ukrainian border have suffered damage from what appears to be Ukrainian military strikes in recent weeks, according to RFL/RE. Ukrainian officials have neither denied nor confirmed the strikes, The New York Times reported.

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