The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) blew up another train on a key railway line in Russia's far eastern republic of Buryatia, Ukrainska Pravda reported on Dec. 1, citing a security service source.
This was allegedly the second stage of an SBU operation to disable the Baikal-Amur railway line. This key railway route, crucial for Russian military logistics, runs north of the Trans-Siberian railway and is part of a network of tracks connecting Russia with China.
Previously, Ukrainska Pravda reported on an allegedly SBU-orchestrated explosion overnight on Nov. 29-30 in Severomuysky Tunnel, Russia's longest railway tunnel nearly 5,000 kilometers from Ukraine.
Four explosives were said to have detonated in the tunnel while a freight train was passing through. Due to the explosion, Russian trains had to take an alternative route, passing over the 35-meter-high Devil's Bridge, Ukrainska Pravda's source said.
Explosives reportedly detonated just as the train was passing over the bridge.
"Russian special services should get used to the fact that our people are everywhere. Even in distant Buryatia," the source told Ukrainska Pravda.
Russian Telegram channels reported on the second explosion around midnight on Dec. 1 local time, claiming that three fuel tanks were damaged in the first explosion and six more in the second one.
The Kyiv Independent could not verify the report.
Russian authorities began investigating the explosion in the Severomuysky Tunnel as a terrorist attack, Russian media reported.
While the SBU has not officially commented on the reports, Ukraine's military intelligence agency (HUR) announced on Nov. 30 that it had conducted a joint operation with local resistance to sabotage railway infrastructure in Moscow Oblast.