Ukraine bombed Putin’s longest railway tunnel 4,828 km inside Russia cutting its main link to China, security sources claim.
Four blasts rocked the 15km tunnel in the Severomuyskiy mountains as a train passed through last night – “paralysing” a key weapons supply route.
A source claimed Ukraine’s SBU intelligence service was behind the attack in Russia’s far east.
A 41-wagon goods train – including three tankers filled with aviation fuel – was reportedly blown up yesterday.
It is unclear if the explosives had been hidden inside the ten-mile tunnel or placed on the freight train before it entered.
The target is the deepest behind enemy lines of any sabotage attack so far.
Russian media reported a fire in the Severomuyskiy tunnel, but did not elaborate on what had caused it.
They said specialist fire trains raced to the scene and no one had been hurt.
A Kyiv source claimed the blasts had “paralysed” Russia’s Baikal-Amur Mainline which runs for 3,200 km from central Russia to its Sea of Japan east coast.
But a security source told The Sun: “The SBU continues to keep Russia in constant tension.
“There was an explosion on the Baikal-Amur mainline, in the Severomuyskiy tunnel.
“Currently, this route, which Russia uses for military supplies, is paralysed.”
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.
The source in Kyiv claimed agents of Russia’s FSB intelligence service were at the scene of the blasts yesterday.
They added: “The railway workers are unsuccessfully trying to minimise the consequences of the SBU special operation.”
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 only hours 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.
Budanov and his senior officers are responsible for an increasing amount of daring attacks on Putin’s home turf as they seek to bring the war closer to his doorstep.
They have also taken responsibility for targeting key Russian war officials and Kremlin propagandists.
It comes as Putin’s killer spy dolphins have reportedly escaped from the tyrant’s grasp after a devastating storm in the Black Sea battered Crimea.
Russia’s defences were badly damaged and Putin’s favourite $4 billion Kerch bridge has become increasingly vulnerable to any fresh Ukrainian attacks.
As the storm tore across the peninsula, new satellite images have revealed the dolphin pens in Sevastopol harbour have vanished along with the specially trained creatures.
Meanwhile, the Russian ruler revealed his dream of a Handmaid’s Tale-style dystopia as he demanded women serve Russia by having “eight or more” kids.
“Large families must become the norm,” the desperate despot ordered after sending hundreds of thousands of young men fleeing or to their deaths on Ukraine’s frozen battlefields.
In the bizarre TV address, he said: “Thank God many of our people have a tradition of a strong multi-generational family, raising four, five and more children.
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