{"id":243268,"date":"2025-02-20T18:46:07","date_gmt":"2025-02-20T18:46:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2025\/02\/20\/with-explosive-goggles-ukraine-sought-to-blast-russian-drone-operators\/"},"modified":"2025-02-20T18:46:07","modified_gmt":"2025-02-20T18:46:07","slug":"with-explosive-goggles-ukraine-sought-to-blast-russian-drone-operators","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2025\/02\/20\/with-explosive-goggles-ukraine-sought-to-blast-russian-drone-operators\/","title":{"rendered":"With Explosive Goggles, Ukraine Sought to Blast Russian Drone Operators"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"text-align:center\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2025\/02\/20\/multimedia\/20ukraine-goggles-cpkv\/20ukraine-goggles-cpkv-facebookJumbo.jpg?ssl=1\" class=\"attachment-post-thumbnail size-post-thumbnail wp-post-image\" alt=\"With Explosive Goggles, Ukraine Sought to Blast Russian Drone Operators\" title=\"With Explosive Goggles, Ukraine Sought to Blast Russian Drone Operators\" \/><\/div><p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-0\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">It was a novel Ukrainian spy plot, inspired by what Israeli intelligence had pulled off with exploding wireless devices and Hezbollah militants: Hide tiny bombs in the goggles that Russian soldiers use to control drones. Donate those goggles to the Russian military, under the guise of humanitarian aid. Then wait for the explosions.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The Russian news agency TASS reported the suspected sabotage of the goggles <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/tass.ru\/armiya-i-opk\/23084221\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">earlier<\/a> this month, and on Thursday, a senior Ukrainian official confirmed that Ukraine\u2019s military intelligence agency, known as the HUR, developed the scheme. The Ukrainian news outlet Suspilne reported on <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/suspilne.media\/953043-v-armii-rf-stalasa-seria-vibuhiv-okulariv-dla-fpv-droniv-pid-cas-ihnogo-vikoristanna-pilotami-dzerelo\/\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">the explosions<\/a> earlier Thursday.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The Ukrainian plot did not have the same public results as the Israeli one, which killed <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/09\/18\/world\/middleeast\/israel-exploding-pagers-hezbollah.html\" title=\"\">dozens<\/a> of people and wounded thousands across Lebanon, including civilians. While many goggle explosions were reported this month, the plot seemed mainly to make Russian soldiers wary about using goggles in the future, at least according to social media posts.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">No one was reported injured or killed, although the Russian military does not often disclose casualty figures. The senior Ukrainian official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss intelligence matters, told The New York Times that there were casualties, but he would not disclose numbers because the operation is ongoing.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-1\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The booby-trapped goggles were just the latest salvo in a long-running spy-vs-spy battle between Russia and Ukraine. Both sides have used been accused of using operatives to kill military leaders and activists.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-2\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Ukrainian officials have asserted that Russia maintains a wide network of sleeper agents, and have variously accused <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/english.nv.ua\/nation\/sbu-exposes-russian-sleeper-agents-including-nurse-with-ukrainian-combat-unit-50311320.html\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">a nurse<\/a>, a <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/babel.ua\/en\/news\/115251-sbu-detained-a-deacon-of-the-uoc-mp-and-a-psychotherapist-they-were-spying-on-the-defenders-of-kharkiv\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">church deacon<\/a>, a <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.sofx.com\/ukraine-detains-rat-in-intelligence-service-over-alleged-russian-espionage\/\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">high-ranking official<\/a> in Ukraine\u2019s intelligence agency. Russia has accused Ukraine of orchestrating the assassinations of prominent figures, including a general <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/12\/17\/world\/europe\/russian-general-bombing-moscow.html\" title=\"\">killed by a bomb<\/a> in Moscow and <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2022\/08\/22\/world\/europe\/russia-ukraine-daria-dugina.html\" title=\"\">an ultranationalist commentator<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The senior Ukrainian official said that the Ukrainians came up with the goggle idea after Israel appeared to launch its own Trojan Horse operation in September, forming shell companies to supply <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/09\/18\/world\/middleeast\/israel-exploding-pagers-hezbollah.html\" title=\"\">pagers<\/a> to Hezbollah that then exploded, killing 20 and injuring about 2,700. The next day walkie-talkies belonging to Hezbollah members blew up, killing a dozen more.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The Ukrainians knew that Russians didn\u2019t use pagers or walkie-talkies. Instead, they used a lot of first-person-view drones, or FPV drones, and the pilots needed special goggles to fly them.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-3\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">On Feb. 7, a Russian named Igor Potapov, who says he works for a company that develops and supplies electronic warfare equipment, <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/t.me\/potapov_npp\/815\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">complained<\/a> about a batch of altered Skyzone Cobra X V4 drone glasses manufactured in China. He claimed that a man named Roman donated them. In an interview, Mr. Potapov said he had heard about the goggles the day before he posted on Telegram, and had confirmed the rumor with a volunteer who helped the Russian army. The Skyzone Cobra goggles were popular with Russian operators because they were inexpensive.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Although it\u2019s not clear how the goggles are detonated, Mr. Potapov said they exploded when they were turned on.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cInformation about humanitarian sabotage has emerged,\u201d he wrote, posting photos of the mailing label for the goggles and photos of the devices. \u201cGlasses for FPV drones were received, when turned on, detonation occurs.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Potapov also said in the interview that no one was injured.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">A video showing the devices being dismantled had previously <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/t.me\/INFRONT_Z\/1346?single\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">appeared<\/a> on a Russian pro-war Telegram channel, called \u201cEngineers to the Front.\u201d The channel\u2019s operators claimed that the goggles had been distributed through volunteers \u201cwithout their knowledge,\u201d and called the attempted attack \u201cmassive.\u201d According to them, the Russian military complained about \u201cmultiple cases\u201d of exploding goggles.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The channel reported that each device contained as much as 15 grams of plastic explosive and detonators. The explosives were packed into boxes fashioned with 3-d printers that were installed in place of a fan. The Engineers to the Front authors said the boxes for the goggles \u201cshowed subtle signs of being opened.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-798hid etfikam0\">Oleksandra Mykolyshyn<!-- --> contributed reporting from Kyiv, and <!-- -->Alina Lobzina<!-- --> from London.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/02\/20\/world\/europe\/urkaine-russia-explosive-goggles.html\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It was a novel Ukrainian spy plot, inspired by what Israeli intelligence had pulled off with exploding wireless devices and Hezbollah militants: Hide tiny bombs in the goggles that Russian soldiers use to control drones. Donate those goggles to the Russian military, under the guise of humanitarian aid. Then wait for the explosions. The Russian [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":243269,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2025\/02\/20\/multimedia\/20ukraine-goggles-cpkv\/20ukraine-goggles-cpkv-facebookJumbo.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[2260,137233,198,163809,12637,160704,37034,202,1461,176926,15353,1130],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/243268"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=243268"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/243268\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":243270,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/243268\/revisions\/243270"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/243269"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=243268"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=243268"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=243268"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}