Trench Art

Trench Art

Russians Are Wearing Toilet Tents To Hide From Ukraine's Thermal Drones

The idea isn't completely stupid

Jan 13, 2026
∙ Paid

Yes, some Russian troops were caught on video wearing portable toilet covers, presumably as a form of thermal camouflage.

No, the idea isn’t as grossly stupid as it might seem on its face. Many brands of these toilet covers—marketed to campers, beachgoers and other outdoorsy types looking for a little privacy while changing their clothes or using the bathroom—are made of polyester embedded with silver.

And as it turns out, silver-embedded polyester can in theory make for decent thermal camouflage.

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