Incendiary event in Zaporizhzhia, Ukrains’ke area, Ukraine on Mon 2nd September 2024

A drone rained down molten thermite on the battlefield in southern Ukraine, setting alight a line of trees in the latest innovation in drone warfare.

Both Ukrainian and Russian sources have claimed credit for a video circulating on social media that appears to show a first-person view drone being used to burn down the forest belt.

The footage shows the unmanned aerial vehicle pouring a stream of white hot metal from above as it moves methodically from left to right across the position.

Such treelines are characteristic of the fighting between Ukrainian and Russian forces in southern Ukraine.

The landscape is littered with man-made belts of forestry – which were planted as windbreaks to prevent topsoil and newly sown seeds being blown away – that separate vast agricultural fields.

They serve as perfect areas of cover to defend against armies attempting to advance across wide, open fields.

Open intelligence researchers geolocated the footage of the thermite-laden drone to a treeline in Russian-controlled Zaporizhzhia, near the village of Ukrains’ke.

In one report, the drone’s use was attributed to a company of Ukraine’s 108th Territorial Defence Brigade.

Rybar, a prominent Russian military blogger, also claimed credit for the weapon in a social media post.

The Telegraph could not verify either of the claims.

The footage was, however, the first time a drone had dropped thermite on an entire treeline.

Ukrainian forces have previously dropped thermite munitions through the hatches of abandoned Russian armoured vehicles and tanks to destroy them.

Thermite scatters thousands of tiny pieces of metal that burn between 2,000 to 2,500 degrees Celsius, meaning it can burn through the steel hulls of lightly armoured vehicles.

Russia has been accused of using thermite shells to target civilian areas, which is considered a war crime.

Both Ukrainian and Russian forces have continued to push the boundaries of drone warfare since the beginning of Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

Kyiv’s men have often turned to homemade one-way attack drones to help overcome Moscow’s huge advantage in artillery shells.

Ukrainian engineers have since developed sturdier, long-range drones that have been used against targets deep inside Russia in absence of permission from the likes of the US and UK to use Western missiles for such strikes.