KYIV — Ukraine’s military intelligence planted hidden explosives in goggles worn by Russian army drone pilots, causing them to explode and blind at least eight soldiers this month, an intelligence official told POLITICO.
In an operation reminiscent of Israel’s mass detonation of hidden explosives in Hezbollah operatives’ pagers in Lebanon last September, the Ukrainian agency — also known as HUR — obtained a large batch of around 80 video piloting goggles for the Russian army drone pilots then equipped them with a “remote detonation function.”
“After that, in coordination with the HUR, Russian volunteers sent the ‘explosive’ goggles free of charge, as a charitable donation, to the UAV units of the enemy army,” the Ukrainian intelligence official, granted anonymity to speak about an ongoing classified mission, told POLITICO.
The first-person view — FPV or kamikaze drone, a unmanned craft equipped with explosives and operated remotely — has become the most deadly and cheap weapon used by Russia in its invasion of Ukraine. Deployed on tanks and soldiers, Russian military also apparently use FPVs to hunt civilians in Ukraine’s southern city of Kherson.
The glasses, needed to pilot the drone, were donated in January. In early February, Russian pro-war bloggers reported several cases of the FPV drone goggles exploding on the heads of the pilots, blinding at least eight of them in Russia’s Kursk and Ukraine’s Donetsk and Luhansk regions.
The glasses exploded as soon a kamikaze drone operator switched them on. C-4 explosive, a detonator and a battery were found inside the glasses, the bloggers said.
Russian intelligence officials are already investigating the case as sabotage, said Vladimir Rogov, chairman of the committee of the Russian Public Chamber on Sovereignty.
Ukrainian military intelligence said the explosive goggles operation is ongoing.
“Over time, there will be more,” the Ukrainian official quoted above said, hinting that the Ukrainian intelligence now operates in Russian Siberia.
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