‘Quite Literally Before Their Eyes’ – Booby-Trapped FPV Goggles Was HUR Operation

As Kyiv Post previously reported, a batch of “Skyzone Cobra X v4” goggles, used to control first-person view (FPV) drones, that had been sent to Russian military units in early February contained improvised explosive device (IEDs) designed to function when the equipment was in use.

Following reports by pro-Kremlin milbloggers that several Russian drone operators had been injured while using the goggles when the hidden IEDs functioned. A source from Ukraine’s Main Directorate of Intelligence (HUR) informed Kyiv Post on Thursday that it had carried out the operation.

During January and early February around 80 sets of the FPV goggles had been sent through several different Russian volunteer groups to various Russian armed forces drone units. HUR concealed around 15 grams (half an ounce) of plastic explosive, a detonator and a battery inside the equipment’s casing near a cooling fan which sits close to the user’s temple.

Between Feb. 4 to 7 at least eight Russian drone pilots were seriously injured, possibly blinded, after the bombs inside the goggles functioned while they were wearing them.

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Booby-Trapped FPV Goggles Blinded 8 Russian Drone Operators

Pro-Kremlin milbloggers have reported on the “success” of a Ukrainian special services operation that sent the sabotaged devices to Russian military units via unsuspecting volunteer organizations.

“Today, the horrors of war are unfolding quite literally before the eyes of enemy FPV pilots. This is a well-deserved punishment for the war crimes Russian occupiers commit against Ukraine every day,” the HUR source said.

“Now, divine retribution is descending en masse upon FPV drone pilots of the Russian Federation for the innocent lives they have taken and the atrocities they commit. Soon, there will be many more such cases, as the so-called ‘Banderite hideouts’ producing surprise-loaded goggles for Russian occupiers are no longer limited to the Ukrainian Carpathians – they now exist deep in Russian Siberia as well,” a member of the team who put the operation into practice said.

HUR sources said that this and similar complex operations against the Russian enemy continue.