How Putin's troops were targeted with boobytrapped boots rigged with explosives

Russia has impounded hundreds of booby-trapped boot insoles intended for Vladimir Putin’s foot soldiers,the country’s spy agency has claimed.

The ‘heated’ insoles,intended for use 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 would have injured more than 500 soldiers.

The FSB said: ‘A foreign national born in 1994 has been detained in Russia. He was involved in 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 a power source.

‘They are designed to sever a part of a serviceman’s limb when they are used during combat missions,’ the FSB added,saying the soles were sent as part of ‘humanitarian aid’.

Each sole contained 1.5grams of explosive powder (Picture: E2W)

The man 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 new 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,is still 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 fellow NATO state Romania as Russian drones attacked Ukraine on the bank of the River Danube.

Russia unleashed at least 34 missiles,with 25 downed by air defences. A total of 426 drones attacked Ukraine,with 365 shot down or disrupted. 

The explosives were inside of the soldiers’ insoles (Picture: E2W)

Back home in Russia,Putin is continuing his crackdown on those who 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 year.

His message spread like wildfire among 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 have been unable to reach him at the Skvortsov-Stepanov City Psychiatric Hospital in the city of St. Petersburg.

He was reportedly sent to a ward for patients suffering from ‘delusions,thought disorders,and incoherent speech’.

Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at .

For more stories like this,check our news page.