Ukraine said it had attacked freight traffic on the Trans-Siberian Railway, halting Russian military supply chains, including weapon deliveries from North Korea.
Ukraine’s Main Directorate of Intelligence (HUR) said it was behind a major explosion in Russia’s eastern Khabarovsk region on Thursday, which damaged the railway along one of the country’s key logistics routes.
HUR said on Telegram that the attack blocked the movement of military cargo on a rail line that Moscow uses “to supply weapons and ammunition, including those obtained from the territory of the DPRK [Democratic People’s Republic of Korea].”
North Korea is one of the Kremlin’s closest allies, supporting Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine with both troops and weapons, including advanced rocket systems and ballistic missiles.
In May, Reuters reported that Pyongyang had supplied more than 20,000 containers of munitions, many of which have been used by the Kremlin to target civilian sites in Ukraine.
The world-famous Trans-Siberian Railway, spanning over 9,000 km from Moscow to Vladivostok, is a crucial logistics route for Russia, allowing military supplies from the east to reach the Ukrainian frontlines.
According to HUR, the operation – carried out over 6,000 km deep into Russian territory - showed that Moscow cannot secure its own military logistics network.
“The Kremlin’s special services once again demonstrate their inability to ensure effective control over even the most critical infrastructure facilities for the occupiers,” it said.
Ukraine’s officials also said that the attack was part of ongoing efforts to “dismantle the enemy’s logistics capabilities.”
This development comes as both countries intensify attacks on each other’s critical infrastructure—Russia targeting Ukraine’s power facilities ahead of winter, and Kyiv hitting oil depots to weaken Moscow’s ability to finance the war.
Overnight, Ukraine also struck a major oil terminal in the Russian seaport of Novorossiysk, as deadly Russian drones once again hit Kyiv.