To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to an internet
browser that
supports HTML5
video
Russia has impounded a whole bunch of booby-trapped boot insoles intended for Vladimir Putin’s foot soldiers, the country’s spy agency has claimed.
The ‘heated’ insoles, intended to be used in cold weather, were rigged with enough explosives to blow off a victim’s limbs, the FSB has alleged.
Russian counterintelligence has blamed Ukrainian secret services for the ploy, which might have injured greater than 500 soldiers.
The FSB said: ‘A foreign national born in 1994 has been detained in Russia. He was involved within the smuggling of weapons to Russia from Poland through Belarus, organised by Ukrainian intelligence agencies.’
The explosives in each pair of insoles weighed 1.5 grams and would have detonated when the insoles were connected to an influence source.
‘They’re designed to sever a component of a serviceman’s limb after they are used during combat missions,’ the FSB added, saying the soles were sent as a part of ‘humanitarian aid’.
The person the FSB has detained is from Tajikistan, the agency said, and was acting as a courier for the explosives.
It comes as earlier today, Vladimir Putin staged massive recent strikes on Ukraine, forcing NATO to scramble warplanes in two allied countries.
Russia hit back with missiles and drone strikes on civilians after suffering critical damage to its energy supplies and exports.
Putin’s largest port, Primorsk, remains to be in flames today after a strike by Ukraine yesterday, disabling a key export port on the Baltic Sea.
Earlier, two F-16 supersonic multirole fourth-generation fighters were scrambled in the man NATO state Romania as Russian drones attacked Ukraine on the bank of the River Danube.
Russia unleashed at the least 34 missiles, with 25 downed by air defences. A complete of 426 drones attacked Ukraine, with 365 shot down or disrupted.
Back home in Russia, Putin is continuous his crackdown on those that speak out against him.
This weekend, a pro-Kremlin lawyer and propagandist who suddenly turned on Vladimir Putin was admitted to a psychiatric clinic.
TV pundit Ilya Remeslo, 42, was previously a staunch Putin supporter and endorser of Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine.
But earlier this week, he posted a series of messages on the messaging website Telegram, describing him as a ‘war criminal, liar, and thief’, and forecast a coup would topple him this yr.
His message spread like wildfire amongst Kremlin officials, as Remeslo posted a video to insist these were his words, and he had not been hacked.
Hours later, Remeslo was reportedly admitted to a psychiatric facility in St Petersburg. Friends have said they’ve been unable to achieve him at the Skvortsov-Stepanov City Psychiatric Hospital in the town of St. Petersburg.
He was reportedly sent to a ward for patients affected by ‘delusions, thought disorders, and incoherent speech’.
Get in contact with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.
For more stories like this, check our news page.
MORE: I drove 1,300 miles to certainly one of Ukraine’s biggest cities – here’s what it’s like in 2026
MORE: I drove 1,300 miles to Ukraine’s food capital – here’s what it’s like in 2026
MORE: Mass cattle cull in Russia feared to be from bioweapons research plant ‘leak’