There’s been a major setback for one Ukrainian-backed militia on the Russian border, after the group ordered a large shipment of pagers to use as improvised explosive devices.

The plan was to litter the pagers throughout abandoned homes and buildings in hopes of wounding Russian soldiers.

But upon arrival of the shipment, routed through the Black Sea via the eastern Mediterranean, it was discovered that all the pagers were apparently defective, each one lacking the basic feature of a highly volatile explosive.

Maximilian Andronnikov, spokesperson for the pro-Ukraine Freedom of Russia Legion, said the issues with the pagers were apparent immediately.

“Didn’t matter what we tried, none of these things would explode,” he said, “I don’t know what happened, but these are useless. All they do is send messages to each other. What are we meant to do? Send to the Russians ‘hey, bang’? Pointless.”

Andronnikov said it was embarrassing for an active fighting force to not even have working pagers.

“The gift exchange receipt will not cover this. We have no means to redeem it.”

The Freedom of Russia Legion is now appealing to American billionaire Elon Musk, in hopes that he’ll be willing to spare leftover Tesla batteries, which they believe will explode much more reliably.