Exploding kamikaze drone toy replicas are sold to Russian kids on Christmas

Russian kids have been receiving exploding suicide drone toys from their parents for Christmas, recreating the deadly battlefields in Ukraine. Ozon, one of Russia's largest online retailers, features listings for a hand-launched "toy airplane" that closely resembles the design of the long-range Iranian drone involved in last week's strike on a nursery in Kharkiv, which housed 48 children.

According to the manufacturers, the toys are marketed to children as young as three.

The website, known as Russia's Amazon, is also selling a version for adults, which explodes on impact. Firecrackers can be purchased to insert in the nose of the drones. In the promotional videos attached to both listings, a small hand is shown launching the glider into the air, after which the firecracker attached to its nose explodes on impact, imitating the blast effect of a Shahed drone's 30-50kg warhead, The Telegraph has reported.

The version of the toy built for children is listed for 351 rubles (£3.29), while the adult model was sold for some 480 rubles (£4.50).

The toy Shahed replicas appear to be sold as merchandise by a covert Russian drone group known as Stalin's Falcons. The unit takes its name from an elite World War II Soviet fighter pilot corps and uses similar nostalgic Socialist Realist imagery in its branding. Their official Telegram channel contains links to the Ozon storefront where the drone toys are sold, and other merchandise, including logo-branded clothing.

According to The Telegraph, the packaging for the drone replicas matches the design used on the Stalin's Falcons website, which also advertises recruitment into Russia's armed forces. This suggests the toys may be part of a wider effort to familiarise or engage children with the military.

One buyer, writing under the name Rinat T, wrote he was "delighted" by the "quality and lethality". Other anonymous users said it was a "cool toy" and that it "scared away the mail carriers, they thought it was real".

Ozon said: "Ozon sells a wide range of consumer goods to the public. We do not specialise in military products, nor do we sell them.

"Any seller can offer their goods on our platform, provided that their sale is not prohibited under Russian law. Products that cannot be sold in Russia will not appear on our website. We carefully check the certificates of conformity and all necessary documents for all goods, especially children's goods.

"In the case of flammable goods, such as firecrackers, we also check safety certificates. For additional real-time verification of goods, we use algorithm-based storefront monitoring and we hide product cards if the seller cannot confirm their quality or safety."

The product have been taken down from the e-commerce platform.