UKRAINE has reportedly bombed Putin’s longest railway 4,000 miles deep inside Russia for the second time in two days.
Dramatic footage captured yet more freight trains exploding in an assumed attempt to paralyse the munitions supply route from North Korea to the frontlines.
The exploding fuel tankers lit up the sky after a suspected Ukrainian bombing attackEast2West
East2WestTwo simultaneous attacks targeted two trains and damaged the tracks that link Russia to North Korea[/caption]
Russia’s Baikal-Amur Mainline runs for 2,700 miles from central Russia to China and North Korea
Ukrainian secret services are said to be behind the double attack in Buryatia in Russia’s far east, 4000 miles from Moscow.
A 50 tanker train, filled with diesel and aviation fuel, was reportedly targeted in what Russia has branded a “terrorist attack”.
A second blast then rocked another train nearby, leaving four tanks burnt out and fuel spewing out.
On Wednesday night, Ukraine attacked the same cross-country railway line at the ten-mile-long Severomuyskiy Tunnel, which cut off Russia’s main link to China, security sources claimed.
A 41-wagon goods train – including three tankers filled with aviation fuel – was reportedly destroyed.
A Kyiv source told The Sun that the blasts had “paralysed” Russia’s Baikal-Amur Mainline which runs for 2,700 miles from central Russia to its Sea of Japan east coast.
The two bombings are the deepest behind enemy lines of any Ukrainian sabotage attacks so far.
The Baikal-Amur Mainline is used for munitions from North Korea and China to supply Putin’s invading forces in Ukraine, Kyiv claims.
Along with China, Kim Jong-un has supplied Putin with vast supplies of artillery shells and other munitions after the pair of despots met in Vladivostok in September.
“The explosion incident allegedly occurred on the Itikit-Okushikan section of the East Siberian Railway in the Northern Railway Tunnel,” said InformNapalm channel telegram channel.
“It is located on the BAM [Baikal-Amur Mainline] and receives military supplies from the DPRK [North Korea].”
Footage from Russian news sites shows the carnage with burning oil lighting up the sky after the second explosion.
The second train hit was reportedly “in the same area”, over 3,000 miles from the Ukrainian border in Siberia.
“Four tanker wagons from the train burned out, two more were damaged by fire,” Baza media reported, adding that fuel spread over 1,600sqft.
The report said investigators were treating the explosions as “sabotage” and had opened a criminal case into “terrorist” attacks.
Bombs placed on the tracks are suspected.
Russia’s longest railway tunnel still remains blocked from Wednesday’s daring overnight attack, which appears to have caused massive damage to the tracks that lead to China.
President Putin has begged China’s Xi Jinping for weapons to help fight Ukraine, but so far he has refused to “really turn on the taps” according to Western officials.
Nonetheless, the tunnel attack could hamper trade with China.
And it will also limit the movement of Russian troops and military supplies from eastern Russia, where many of Putin’s cannon-fodder conscripts hail from.
A leaked internal email from Russian Railways in the aftermath stated: “Attention EVERYONE!!!
“There was a terrorist attack in the Severomuysky tunnel!!! There are signs of explosions on the tankers….
“High alert mode has been introduced!!! Extra vigilance!!! Instruct all the employees!!!”
Russia initially claimed the tunnel explosion was caused by a “short circuit” but now appears to accept it was a sabotage attack.
Last month Lt-Gen Kyrylo Budanov, Ukraine’s military intelligence chief, said rockets in Kim’s arsenal are suitable for Russia’s Grad anti-aircraft missile defence system, and some Russian tanks.
North Korea is capable of producing a significant number of artillery shells as unlike Russian, the Pyongyang regime has preserved facilities for serial weapons production.
According to Ukrainian intelligence, Russian military plants can satisfy on;y seven per cent of the Russian army’s needs of artillery shells.
“It’s a question of how much the Koreans will be able to transfer quickly,” said Budanov.
The attack follows a spate of Ukraine sabotage raids against factories, railways and airfields deep inside Russian territory.
Ukraine has twice attacked the £3bn Kerch road and rail bridge linking mainland Russia to occupied Crimea.
There have also been a number of unexplained blasts on rail lines carrying military supplies towards the Ukraine frontline.
The blasts came a day after a Ukrainian cyber attack saw a message from President Zelensky broadcast on TVs across occupied Crimea.
Russian officials scrambled to end Zelensky’s broadcast, but together with his spy chief Lt Gen Kyrylo Budanov, 37, they declared: “Crimea is ours.”
The pair vowed to expel Russian forces and return illegally annexed Crimea to Ukraine.
The daring hack also saw the message “Putin is a d***head” displayed on Crimean TVs.
Spymaster Budanov’s wife Marianna, along with top intelligence officials, were poisoned with arsenic and mercury this week in a suspected Russian murder plot.
Ukraine appears to have targeted the potential supply route of weapons from North Korea to Russia
It came only a day after Ukraine bombed a Russian railway tunnel deep inside Russia on Wednesday night, sources claim
The tunnel is still out of action ‘paralysing’ the key supply route
It has temporarily cut off Putin’s link to China