“Found these in the Zaporizhzhya direction. The enemy is throwing chocolates with an explosive mechanism. Do not open them under any circumstances. Our guy was lucky that it did not detonate, otherwise he could have ended up crippled. I know guys whose fingers were torn off like that.”

  • ghen@sh.itjust.works
    42·
    3 months ago

    Far more likely this is being prepared by Russians as they retreat in Kursk and blamed on Ukraine just in case any Russian civilians get hit. We know for a fact that Russia booby traps civilian areas which is a war crime. There have been zero cases of Ukraine doing this. So if a booby trap exists it should be assumed Russian.

  • HakFoo@lemmy.sdf.org
    431·
    3 months ago

    That does seem like something that would violate some rules-of-war convention.

    Booby-trapping something that might be mistaken by civilians as a legitimate humanitarian aid drop risks non-combatant casualties and makes it harder for actual aid operations to operate.

    • Tar_Alcaran@sh.itjust.works
      39·
      3 months ago

      Ah, this reminds the time when cluster munitions were bright yellow, so you could spot them and stay away.

      And food aid packages were bright yellow, so you could spot them and easily collect them.

      Yeah…

    • apotheotic (she/her)@beehaw.orgEnglish
      15·
      3 months ago

      If it is something they’re actually doing, I agree. But this image looks like a crafts project gone wrong. Are we supposed to believe that the bit a the bottom is like, high explosive or something and that tiny wire is the primer?

    • CanadaPlus@lemmy.sdf.org
      5·
      3 months ago

      Yup. I read the convention on mines recently in the wake of the pagers thing. Even if chocolate isn’t humanitarian aid, portable booby trapped non-military items are forbidden if they self-trigger. (The pagers actually seem fine by the copy I read, because being remote-controlled makes them “other devices”)

      Edit: And also specifically food or drink.

      • CanadaPlus@lemmy.sdf.org
        2·
        3 months ago

        It’s an argument you could make, but there’s already a convention against these specific types of weapon, even if you promise to be careful to clear them all when you’re done.

  • NateNate60@lemmy.world
    28·
    3 months ago

    Explosives don’t seem smart. Why didn’t they poison the chocolate instead? The enemy opens the chocolate, sees nothing wrong with it, shares it with their mates, and then now you’ve got five casualties who are none the wiser. Is that against the rules of war or something?

    • Milk_Sheikh@lemm.ee
      12·
      3 months ago

      I agree the round disc and deliberately folded wire screams something to do with RF, but a) how powered and for how long? and b) why a chocolate bar if so?

      It’s not like they hid a transmitter inside something that wouldn’t be taken apart or eaten, this was going to get discovered. Sneak a transmitter inside a PKM or radio, then let it be “captured” by the Russians.

      • barsoap@lemm.ee
        9·
        3 months ago

        a) how powered and for how long?

        Might even be passive, a tuned resonator. Heck it could be a bug, IIRC ironically passive bugs are (age-old) soviet tech. Imagine sweeping the whole frequency spectrum for resonators with 50s tech they were a nightmare to screen for.

        and b) why a chocolate bar if so?

        Maybe the idea is to track people for some time to gather intelligence on trench operations? Most probably aren’t going to eat the thing right away.

      • frozenpopsicle@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
        1·
        3 months ago

        The wire in the middle is bent and acts as a spring. The metal disk on top slaps the tan paper on bottom when the wrapper is removed. No power, all mechanical.

    • fuckingkangaroos@lemm.ee
      41·
      3 months ago

      Fuck the Kremlin. Broad hatred for the entire country will only drive the decent Russians into the Kremlin’s arms tentacles

  • SplashJackson@lemmy.ca
    9·
    3 months ago

    They only just discovered the chocolates yet somehow they know people who had their fingers blown off from them?

    Sounds a bit suspect, Ivan

  • 314@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
    61·
    3 months ago

    Nice Halloween touch…victory to Ukraine. LOL, if vodka bottles were used…

    Send more weapons! Allow use on military targets in russia!

  • Nasan@sopuli.xyz
    41·
    3 months ago

    Wouldn’t catch me dead with dark chocolate in my hand, or exploded all over me