Fiber-Optic Spool Mines Take Out 5 Russian Invaders: Details from Radio Intercepts

Reports have emerged of casualties among Russian UAV operators following the detonation of booby-trapped fiber-optic spools.

According to Militarnyi, sources within a Ukrainian security service provided supporting radio intercept data.

Confirmed losses in Russian Armed Forces units:

• 1445th Motor Rifle Regiment (Tokmak area, Zaporizhzhia region): 1 killed, 2 wounded
• 189th Separate Reconnaissance Battalion (Kreminna area, Luhansk region): 1 killed, 2 wounded
• 32nd Separate Rifle Battalion (Sevsk area, Bryansk region, Russia): 3 killed

Thus, according to the intercept data, the enemy’s total losses amount to at least 5 killed and 4 wounded.

A video featuring “thank-you” messages from Russian servicemen, obtained by Militarnyi, indicates that the booby-trapped fiber-optic spools were delivered to units in batches of four.

This tactic was reportedly chosen by Ukrainian special services to affect as many crew members as possible. After the first detonations, Russian troops reportedly stopped using the remaining spools from the same batch.

According to the Russian servicemen, they received the spools from a supposed volunteer named “Petro Lukanov.”

The first reports of fiber-optic spool explosions in the Russian army surfaced in late February, when pro-war Z channels reported two soldiers killed.

At the time, Militarnyi’s sources said that thousands of these spools had been delivered to Russian units through fake volunteers and sham charitable foundations.

Previously, Ukrainian intelligence operations reportedly led to the delivery of booby-trapped FPV goggles to the Russian army. More recently, Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) claimed that it had uncovered booby-trapped heated insoles that were also being supplied to frontline units.