The first explosion struck a tanker train in the Severonomuisky tunnel in Buryatia early Thursday, causing a fire that took hours to extinguish, Russian news agencies reported. The 15.3 kilometer long tunnel in southern Siberia is the longest in Russia.
A second explosion struck another train carrying fuel hours later as it crossed a 35-meter-high bridge over a deep ravine on a bypass route, according to Ukrainian news reports.
Russian Railways, the state-owned company that runs the vast rail network, said traffic was rerouted to a new route after the initial attack, slightly increasing travel times but not disrupting traffic.
It also confirmed the tunnel explosion but did not say what caused it.
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The Russian business daily Kommersant quoted investigators as saying that an explosive device had been planted under one of the train’s carriages.
There was no comment from Russian authorities about the second explosion.
A Ukrainian source said the second attack anticipated the diversion of rail traffic and targeted the replacement line at Chertov Bridge.
A Russian industry source, who did not want to be named, said the replacement route was operational and was being used by freight trains on Friday afternoon.
Ukrainian authorities have stressed that the country’s military and security agencies can strike targets anywhere in Russia to combat Moscow’s aggression.
Officials in Kiev have claimed responsibility for several previous attacks on infrastructure facilities deep inside Russia.
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Ukraine says a Russian attack killed over 50 people in one of the deadliest attacks of the war
Ukraine says a Russian attack killed over 50 people in one of the deadliest attacks of the war
Russia’s top counterintelligence agency, the Federal Security Service (FSB), said on Friday that it had arrested a man accused of attacking a military air base in western Russia with exploding drones in July and staging an explosion that most recently hit a freight train in western Russia derailed month.
The FSB identified the suspect as a Russian-Italian dual citizen and claimed he was recruited by Ukrainian military intelligence in Istanbul and underwent training in Latvia before returning to Russia.
There was no immediate comment from Ukrainian authorities on the claim.
As the war continued into its 22nd month, Ukraine’s armed forces shot down 18 of 25 Iranian-made exploding Shahed drones and one of two air-launched missiles fired by Russia early Friday, the Ukrainian air force said.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s office reported that at least four civilians were killed and 16 others injured in Russian strikes across Ukraine between Thursday and Friday morning.
Three of them died when Russian warplanes struck the village of Sadowe in the southern Ukrainian region of Kherson; The fourth was killed in a Russian shelling of the city of Toretsk in the eastern Donetsk region, the presidential office said.
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Zelensky also said changes were needed to improve Ukraine’s mobilization system as part of an overall strategy to improve the country’s military position in the war.
He said a military command meeting discussed scenarios to achieve “concrete results” for 2024 under wartime conditions. “This is particularly about the question of mobilization. Everyone in Ukraine understands that changes are needed in this area,” Zelensky said.
“It’s not just a question of numbers who can be mobilized,” he said. “It is a question of time frame for every person who is now in the military, for demobilization and for those who will join the military. And it’s about conditions.”
Zelensky said the matter must be examined by commanders and the Defense Ministry.
Additional reporting from Portal