A MAJOR crash has ripped through Russia on a vital railway artery believed to ferry North Korean weapons to Vladimir Putin’s brutal war in Ukraine.
A freight train hauling 35 wagons spectacularly derailed in Russia’s remote Amur region on the Transbaikal Railway – a strategic line linked to the famed Trans-Siberian route.
Shocking images from the scene showed twisted metal and smashed wagons strewn across the tracks.
Russian investigators scrambled to establish whether the crash was caused by explosives planted on the line – or another sinister explanation.
The wreck occurred on the Gonja–Gudachi section of track, some 3,400 miles east of Moscow, on a route widely believed to be used to move military hardware supplied by Kim Jong-un to bolster Putin’s faltering war effort.
Key Russian railway routes have repeatedly come under attack during the conflict, with pro-Ukrainian groups previously accused of staging sabotage operations deep inside Russia.
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Early reports claimed the train was carrying “coal”, though officials admitted this could not be independently confirmed.
Russian rail officials rushed to play down the severity of the crash, insisting no one had been hurt despite the scale of the derailment.
“There were no casualties,” a rail source claimed, adding that officials believed the crash posed no wider danger.
The added: “There is no threat to the environment.”
But the impact on services was immediate, with the key section of track shut down as engineers assessed the damage.
“Traffic on the section has been suspended,” the source said, warning travellers to brace for disruption.
The source continued: “Passenger train delays are expected
“Three recovery trains have been sent to the site.”
Senior Russian Railways official Sergei Kobzev – the company’s deputy chief – was parachuted in to deal with the fallout.
“The causes of the accident are being investigated,” a statement said.
A criminal case has now been opened into the derailment by the Transbaikal Investigative Committee, underlining the seriousness of the crash on a route critical to Russia’s war logistics.
The derailment comes as Kim Jong-un openly boasts about his bloody alliance with Putin – and the role North Korean soldiers and weapons are playing in the slaughter in Ukraine.
The North Korean tyrant has hailed his bond with the Kremlin, declaring the two regimes have shared “blood, life and death” on the battlefield.
In a chilling New Year message published by state propaganda outlet KCNA, Kim said 2025 was a “really meaningful year” for the alliance, forged by “sharing blood, life and death in the same trench”.
Kim branded the partnership “invincible”, vowing it would last forever in a personal letter to Putin.
The despot has already thrown thousands of his own troops into what critics describe as a meatgrinder war, fighting shoulder-to-shoulder with Russian forces.
North Korea only confirmed in April that it had deployed soldiers to Ukraine – also admitting some had been killed in combat.
State TV and KCNA claimed North Korean troops made an “important contribution” in helping Russian forces push Ukrainian fighters out of Kursk.
Kim reportedly sent “sub-units of our armed forces” under a treaty with Moscow, with the troops “participated in the operations for liberating the Kursk areas”.
KCNA gushed that North Korea “regards it as an honour to have an alliance with such a powerful state as the Russian Federation”.
But multiple reports have painted a far darker picture – alleging North Korean soldiers are being used as expendable cannon fodder.
They were reportedly ordered to jog across snowy no-man’s-land, deliberately soaking up Ukrainian fire in deadly suicide-style missions.
Earlier this month, Pyongyang admitted it sent troops to clear mines in Russia’s Kursk region in August 2025.
At least nine soldiers from an engineering regiment were killed during the 120-day deployment, Kim revealed in a December 12 speech marking the unit’s return.
In a rare public display of emotion, the tyrant wept over the coffins of soldiers he sent to die in Putin’s war.
Thousands of North Koreans stood rigid in a vast auditorium as Kim took his seat in the front row.
Giant screens showed him draping flags over the coffins, while a huge orchestra played mournful music.
Women in long dresses sang passionately, a harpist played on stage, and the regime broadcast the spectacle nationwide.
Ukrainian officials estimate North Korea has sent around 14,000 troops – including 3,000 reinforcements to replace heavy losses.
Kim’s New Year message to Putin came just one day after he ordered officials to ramp up missile production.
Alongside troops, Pyongyang has supplied Russia with artillery shells, missiles and long-range rocket systems.
In return, analysts say Moscow is funnelling North Korea financial aid, military technology, food and energy supplies.
Western allies fear Russia could even hand over sensitive technology capable of boosting North Korea’s nuclear programme.
Missile testing in Pyongyang has surged in recent years, with analysts warning it is aimed at sharpening precision strike capabilities.
The derailment also follows fresh chaos at the top of the war – with US President Trump branding Putin’s claim that Volodymyr Zelensky tried to assassinate him as an outright lie.
The outburst came as Russian forces launched deadly overnight strikes on Ukrainekilling two civilians – the first reported deaths of the conflict this year.
The savage attack hit a hospital in Kyiv, just days after Putin doubled down on claims Ukraine attempted to kill him with a drone strike on his palace.
The Kremlin even presented supposed “proof” to an American attache – a drone control mechanism allegedly showing the intended target was Putin’s £100million Lake Valdai mansion.
Ukrainian officials mocked the evidence – and Trump appeared to agree.
Speaking aboard Air Force One, the US President said: “I don’t believe that strike happened.
“We don’t believe that happened, now that we’ve been able to check.”
It marked a sharp U-turn from Trump’s initial reaction, when he appeared to accept Putin’s version of events.
“I learned about it from President Putin today,” he said last Monday.
“I was very angry about it.”
Trump later described the moment as a “delicate period of time”, adding: “This is not the right time”.
The civilian deaths came after Putin delivered a chest-thumping speech ordering his army to seize more territory in 2026 – despite Trump insisting America and Ukraine were making “terrific” progress toward peace.
Before the New Year, Zelensky met Trump at Mar-a-Lago, where the pair discussed the latest peace efforts.
Trump praised the courage of Ukraine’s leader and his people, calling the talks “terrific” and saying he had “made a lot of progress” toward a deal.