Russian soldiers are blown up by their own mines after a prank call from Ukrainians led them to a booby-trapped home, officials say
- Soldiers on patrol in Mariupol received a tip-off that Azov troops were nearby
- They attended a house on the outskirts of the city only to find it deserted
- They were blown up by their mines, killing one and seriously injuring another
A group of Russian troops has been blown up by their own mines after responding to a prank call from Ukrainians leading them to a booby-trapped home, officials claimed.
The soldiers on patrol in Mariupol received reports that Azov fighters were hiding out in a home on the outskirts of the city, the Mariupol mayor's office said on Telegram.
The troops quickly raced to the house hoping to find the paramilitary fighters, whose comrades fiercely defended the city and its steelworks earlier in the war until they were eventually captured by Putin's forces.
But the naive Russians arrived at the property there were no enemy soldiers to be found, with pro-Ukrainian partisans behind the fake call.
They were then blown up by mines that their own soldiers had set, which had been forgotten about but spotted by Ukrainians who then used them to their advantage.
According to the mayor's office, one soldier was killed and another lost his leg and remains in a Donetsk hospital after the attack early yesterday morning.
It marks a rare victory for Ukraine in Mariupol which has been captured by Russians and was subjected to devastating bombardment throughout the war, with its residents forced to hide underground without food, water or electricity for months.
Elsewhere today, at least four people have been killed as Russian shelling hit the center of Ukraine's second city of Kharkiv, the regional governor said.
'The Russian occupiers shelled the central districts of Kharkiv,' Oleg Synegubov said on Telegram, giving a toll of four dead and another four injured and warning residents to 'stay inside the shelters'.
Volodymyr Zelensky has urged Russian troops to flee for their lives as his forces launched their offensive, though Russia said the assault had failed.