Ukrainian troops are using recordings of cat noises to fool Putin’s soldiers into opening booby-trapped wardrobes and cupboards, a Russian commander has claimed.

The canny deception, said to be taking place in the occupied Donetsk region of Ukraine, is yet to be verified, but it has allegedly seen Russian troops blown up.

“We go in, we hear meowing, let’s say, in the cupboard. When you open it, out of compassion, there is a blast because it has been rigged with explosives,” Leonid Otdelnov, head of a Russian mine-clearing unit, told state-owned TV Zvezda.

The commander did not reveal whether there had been any deaths as a result of the cunning scheme.

Kyiv has not been drawn on the matter.

Russia is well-known as a cat-loving nation, with more than 23 million kept as pets.

Despite Russia’s fondness for the animals, a Russian diplomat said they have been used on the frontline to curb rat infestations.

“Our cats are used to catch mice and calm soldiers down”, Vladimir Maligyn said.

Ukrainian forces have a track record of using unusual means to lure invading troops into traps.

“The enemy does not hesitate to use prohibited cluster munitions and disguise them as so-called interior items, that is, backpacks, weapons, a banal pack of cigarettes”, a Russian deputy commander of a sapper company told state-owned news outlet Smotrim in November 2024.