Ukraine 'booby-trapped goggles bound for Putin's drone pilots' in plot reminiscent of Israel's exploding pagers attack, Russian spies claim

Russia has accused Ukraine of sabotaging goggles intended for Vladimir Putin’s frontline, in a bid to kill and maim his drone pilots.Explosive devices were allegedly concealed in the booby-trapped military kit supplied to the Russian frontline.'The Federal Security Service [FSB] thwarted a series of sabotage and terrorist attacks using improvised explosive devices concealed inside FPV drone goggles intended for delivery to the Russian military in the special military operation zone,' said a statement from the intelligence organisation.Agents of Ukraine posed as 'pseudo-patriots' and arranged to supply the goggles to Russian humanitarian organisations and charity foundations that send shortage kit to frontline troops during the war.Kyiv has not yet commented on the accusation.One witness admitted that some of the dodgy goggles fitted with explosives reached the frontline but it is not known if any remote drone pilots were wounded.'We volunteers don’t really know the specifics of this kind of gear,' she said.'We just received the aid, expressed our thanks, and forwarded it on to the guys [at the front]. Russia has accused Ukraine of sabotaging goggles intended for Vladimir Putin’s frontline, in a bid to kill and maim his drone pilots Explosive devices were allegedly concealed in the booby-trapped military kit supplied to the Russian frontline Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Istanbul, Turkey, October 31'And that’s how this whole mess [of exploding goggles] ended up reaching our men.'A man said he was suspicious of the goggles and 'immediately contacted security authorities'.'I was contacted by a humanitarian organisation regarding the delivery of FPV [First-Person View] drone goggles—intended for operating FPV drones—sent by an individual I did not know,' he said.'I agreed to accept this humanitarian aid.'But after opening the package, I immediately contacted security authorities.'Another woman said she had agreed to supply the goggles to Russian troops after being offered them by an unknown female called Darya.'When I went to collect the package, officers from the Federal Security Service [FSB] approached me,' she said.'They informed me that the goggles contained an explosive device, intended to cause harm to my life and health—or to the men we intended to pass them on to.'The FSB said: 'Explosives experts conducted X-ray tests and found that Ukrainian security services planted improvised explosives instead of coolers in the FPV drone goggles.'The alleged plot is reminiscent of when thousands of handheld pagers and hundreds of walkie-talkies intended for use by Hezbollah exploded simultaneously in two separate events across Lebanon and Syria on September 17 and 18, 2024.The Israeli attack put 1,500 Hezbollah fighters out of commission because of their injuries, with many having been blinded or had their hands blown off.Authorities in Ukraine and Russia said their emergency alert mobile apps had been targeted by cyberattacks, with users in Kyiv receiving false warnings of an imminent nuclear threat.It was not clear if the attacks late Sunday were related. Ukraine said its service, which residents rely on to seek safety amid daily Russian missile and drone strikes, was up and running again after being suspended due to the attack.Russian authorities said Monday that hackers had sent fake emergency alerts after gaining access to the Russian Emergency Situations Ministry's mobile app, and that efforts were ongoing to restore the app's functionality.A Russian Telegram channel said a hacking group, Hitcore, had claimed responsibility for the breach of the Ukrainian system, but that could not be independently verified. Any affiliations or other details surrounding the identities or motivations of the purported hackers were unclear.The alerts received by Ukrainians—making false claims of high radiation levels, a chemical threat and public disturbances in Kyiv—were written in English with spelling and grammatical errors as well as in a mix of Russian and Ukrainian.One of the messages, written in Russian, said: 'Hi! There will be a nuclear threat across Ukraine. Do not worry, the Oreshnik is incoming,' a reference to a Russian intermediate-range ballistic missile.In a Telegram post late Sunday following the breach, Ukraine's air raid alert channel said 'unauthorised parties' had interfered with the app's operation and warned users not to click on links in 'suspicious notifications'.Ukraine's state-run Center for Countering Disinformation reported the breach and urged users to monitor other emergency channels on social media and rely on physical alerts while the cyberattack was being addressed.Yurii Ihnat, a spokesman for Ukraine's air force command, said the cyberattack had no impact on Ukraine's security and defence operations because the app is separate from military command systems.Ihnat told Ukraine's private 1+1 television that the air force continues to report real-time threats through independent communication channels, including popular social media platforms.In a statement, Russia's Emergency Ministry said that hackers had used its mobile app to send a false alert across 33 of Russia's 89 regions at approximately 2.45am Moscow time (11.45pm GMT). It did not name who it believed carried out the attack.The ministry said that the digital vulnerability exploited by the attackers had been identified and that 'necessary measures' were being taken to prevent a similar breach. It also reassured Russians that the wider public alert system was working normally through SMS messages, media broadcasts and municipal sirens and loudspeakers.Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said that all of Russia's state agencies were under the constant threat of cyberattacks, including a growing number that use artificial intelligence.'All government bodies must take steps to improve the cybersecurity of our digital resources,' Peskov said.Ukrainian authorities in the war-divided Kherson region reported multiple Russian drone attacks early Monday, hours after a humanitarian ceasefire expired.The regional administration said a 62-year-old woman and a 73-year-old man were hospitalized with blast injuries in the city of Kherson, across the Dnipro River from Russian-occupied territory.The localised ceasefire ended at midnight at the start of Monday. The brief pause in fighting was tied to a humanitarian aid mission in the Russian-occupied city of Oleshky.The ceasefire, which began October 27, marked the most significant truce between Kyiv and Moscow since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine began nearly five years ago.The White House said US first lady Melania Trump helped broker the limited truce. Civilian negotiators from Russia and Ukraine also helped secure the pause, which allowed besieged residents of Oleshky to be evacuated in a rare joint operation that ended Saturday.An estimated 2,000 civilians were in Oleshky when the temporary truce took effect. They could evacuate to territory controlled by either Ukraine or Russia, or remain in the city with replenished food and medical supplies. Exact evacuation totals were withheld to protect those who stayed.Ukraine's general staff said Monday that Russia's military had bolstered its drone defenses and replenished ammunition supplies in the area during the ceasefire.Elsewhere in Ukraine, emergency services reported that drone strikes injured 12 people in the eastern Kharkiv region and damaged a refrigeration facility, greenhouses and residential buildings.Five people were also reported injured in the Black Sea port city of Odesa, where a warehouse was targeted and homes were damaged.Russia's Ministry of Defense said Monday that it had shot down 212 Ukrainian drones overnight, while the head of Russia's Samara region, Gov. Vyacheslav Fedorishchev, said in a statement that local air defences were repelling an aerial attack, but did not give further details.Independent Russian media outlets later reported that Ukrainian drones had targeted one of Europe's largest oil transport hubs in Russia's Samara region.